/2_.J/  .M 


^i  tut  Ihf olojiiai  ^ 

'^  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  ^^ 


Purchased  by  the  Hamill   Missionary  Fund. 


BV  2060  .T46 

Thoburn,  J.  m.  1836-1922 

The  Christless  nations 


THE 


D 


^. 


••]r 


Christless  Nations 


.  THOI 


BISHOP  J.   M.  THOBURN,  D.D 


A  SERIES  OF  ADDRESSES   ON    CHRISTLESS   NATIONS  AND 

KINDRED  SUBJECTS   DELIVERED   AT   SYRACUSE 

UNIVERSITY   ON  THE  GRAVES 

FOUNDATION,     1 89  5 


NEW  YORK:    HUNT   &    EATON 
CINCINNATI:     CUANSTON   &   CURTS 

18<J5 


Copyright  by 

HUNT  &  EATON. 

1895. 


Composition,  clcctrolyping, 
printing,  and  binding  by 

Hunt  &  Eaton, 
150  Fifth  Ave,  New  York. 


PREFACE. 


A  RETURNED  missionary  who  attempts  to 
speak  on  the  general  subject  of  missions 
quickly  discovers  that  most  of  his  auditors  expect 
him  to  give  some  account  of  his  own  special  work, 
or  of  his  personal  observations  on  the  mission  field, 
and  it  may  even  happen  that  a  hint  will  be  conveyed 
to  him  that  it  would  be  better  to  leave  to  others  the 
discussion  of  missionary  policy  and  principles  and 
confine  himself  to  his  own  more  legitimate  task. 
In  other  words,  the  missionary  is  expected  to  be  a 
reporter  only,  and  not  aspire  to  the  higher  privi- 
leges of  the  editor's  chair.  The  following  lectures 
were  prepared  with  a  full  knowledge  of  the  peculiar 
standard  by  which  such  addresses  are  judged;  but 
having  had  not  only  a  long  experience  abroad,  but 
a  very  wide  view  of  the  missionary  situation  as  it 
is  to-day  in  the  United  States,  I  did  not  feel  at 
liberty  to  choose  narrow,  even  though  more  ])opu- 
lar,  topics.  I  am  profoundly,  and  even  painfully, 
convinced  that  the  Christians  of  America  do  not 
so  much  need  more  information  from  the  mission 
field  as  a  willingness  to  obey  the  commandment 
of  the  ascending  Saviour,  a  commandment  so  long 


4  PREFACE. 

and  so  grievously  neglected.  I  have  no  longer  any 
doubt  concerning  the  possibility  of  victory  in  the 
field  abroad,  but  the  Church  at  home  is  not  pre- 
pared for  victory,  and  has  little  thought  of  trying 
to  utilize  it  when  it  comes. 

The  Christians  of  the  present  generation,  espe- 
cially in  England  and  America,  are  face  to  face 
with  the  most  startling  responsibility  which  any 
Christians  have  ever  borne.  They  are  not  meet- 
ing this  responsibility;  they  do  not  realize  what  it 
means.  They  should,  by  all  means,  gather  all 
possible  information  concerning  the  foreign  field, 
but  in  the  meantime  let  them  study  their  own  rela- 
tion to  the  work.  The  present  demand  upon  the 
home  Churches  may  be  considered  heavy  enough 
by  some,  but  it  is  trifling  when  compared  with  the 
demands  which  will  soon  come  from  the  other  side 
of  the  globe.  God  assures  us  that  our  claim  upon 
him,  unspeakably  great  before,  becomes  still  more 
enhanced  after  we  become  his  reconciled  children. 
By  the  same  rule  our  missionary  obligations  do  not 
cease  when  the  Hindu  or  the  Buddhist  becomes 
a  Christian  ;  they  only  become  permanent.  The 
time  is  very  near  when  converts  will  be  added  in 
India  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  thousand  a  year, 
and  twenty-five  thousand  a  year  in  China.  When 
that  time  comes  Christian  sympathy  will  flow  out 
to  those  newborn  thousands  in  an  ever-widening 
and  ever-deepening  current,  and  the  missionary 
enterprise  will  assume  a  new  phase  undreamed  of 
before. 


PREFACE.  5 

Farseeing  Cliristians  perceive  that  America  is 
destined  to  be,  in  a  broad  and  yet  very  true  sense 
of  the  word,  the  great  missionary  nation  of  the 
world.  It  will  be  her  peculiar  mission  in  history 
to  Christianize  and  elevate  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth.  The  great  movement  which  was  inaugu- 
rated about  a  century  ago  will  assume  immense 
proportions  as  the  years  go  by,  and  fifty  years 
hence  will  probably  be  one  of  the  greatest  move- 
ments on  the  globe.  We  should  study  such  a 
movement  carefully  and  prayerfully,  and  ponder 
well  our  own  relation  to  it.  If  we  may  venture  to 
hope  that  God  has,  in  the  multitude  of  his  tender 
mercies,  ''winked  at"  the  past  inattention  and 
disobedience  of  his  Church  in  neglecting  her  com- 
mission to  evangelize  the  nations,  such  a  hope  can 
hardly  be  indulged  in  the  future.  The  providential 
tokens  are  too  many,  the  calls  are  too  loud  and  too 
constant,  the  Spirit's  promptings  are  too  clear  and 
too  universal  to  permit  us  to  disobey  longer  with- 
out incurring  guilt  before  both  heaven  and  earth. 

While  the  following  lectures  deal  somewhat 
freely  with  what  might  be  called  the  home  aspects 
of  the  missionary  enterprise,  the  foreign  work  is  by 
no  means  passed  over  in  silence.  The  work  is  one, 
and  the  workers  at  home  and  abroad  are  bound 
together  by  inseparable  interests.  New  questions 
are  coming  to  the  surface  in  the  foreign  field,  some 
of  which  are  briefly  discussed,  while  cpiestions  of 
policy  of  long  standing  receive  the  attention  which 
they  have  long  merited. 


6  PREFACE. 

Missionary  work  has  its  own  peculiarities,  but 
after  all  it  does  not  differ  so  very  widely  from 
ordinary  Christian  work.  It  is,  for  the  most  part, 
ordinary  Christian  work  under  extraordinary  con- 
ditions. Hence  the  reader  of  the  following  pages 
may  find  occasional  hints  which  may  possibly  be 
of  some  value  in  the  ordinary  home  field.  A  re- 
turned missionary  who  once  gave  a  lecture  before 
the  students  of  a  theological  seminary  was  told  by 
one  of  the  professors  that  his  remarks  could  not 
have  been  better  adapted  to  the  wants  of  the 
students  present  if  prepared  with  sole  reference  to 
their  future  work  in  the  United  States.  In  the 
hope  that  some  of  God's  workers  at  home  and 
abroad  may  profit  by  these  hastily  prepared  lec- 
tures, the  manuscript  has  been  placed  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  authorities  of  the  University. 

Syracuse,  N.  V.,  May  2,  1S95.  J.  M.  T. 


SYLLABUS 


PAGE 

The  Christles  ;  Nations 9 

Introductory — Christ  still  on  earth — Found  only  among 
his  own — Wiiat  is  the  loss  of  non-Christians?  — 
The  influence  of  Christianity — Ten  hundred  millions 
without  Christ — Merely  nominal  work  will  not  do — 
Bearing  Christ  to  the  nations — Our  privilege 
slighted — What   is   a   Christian   nation  ? 

Missionary  Possibilities 41 

Introductory — Careful  inquiry  needed — The  home  sit- 
uation— A  startling  illustration — A  practicable  plan — 
Demand  for  workers — The  world's  gates  opening —    •/ 
Better  plans  coming  into  favor — Power  of  a  Chris- 
tian minority — Estimating   results — Our  opportuni-  V 
ties. 

Woman  in  the  Mission  Field 75 

Introductory — Woman's  era — Woman's  missionary  so- 
cieties— The  zenana — Quiet  progress — A  widening 
sphere — Female  evangelists — An  anointed  leader — 
Administrative  duties — A  new  sphere — Medical 
work. 


8  SYLLABUS. 

FACE 

Missionary  Polity 1 1 1 

Introductory — A  missionary  constituency  needed — 
The  home  management — The  work  I's.  the  society — 
Limitations  of  autliority — The  missionary  commis- 
sariat— Planting  —  Organization  —  Avoid  a  narrow 
policy — Follow  up  success — Family  and  national 
lines. 

Nf.w  Testament  Missions 145 

Introductory — Roman  and  British  empires — The  An- 
glo-Saxon dispersion — Spiritual  standard — Vivifying 
lifeless  communities — The  call  to  service — Men  of 
the  people — Meeting  an  emergency — Changed  con- 
ditions— The  teachers  of  New  Testament  times — 
Present-day  converts — Flexible  organization. 

Wayside  Views 181 

Introductory — Missionary  devotion — Separation  from 
children — Spiritual  life — Confidence  needed — The 
present  social  crisis — Living  links — The  instinct  of 
victory. 


THE  CHRISTLESS  NATIONS. 


THE  CllRISTLESS  NATIONS, 

AND 

OTHER  ADDRESSES. 


THE  CHRISTLESS  NATIONS. 

SOME  years  ago  an  elderly  minister  who 
wished  to  devote  his  latest  years  to  the 
advocacy  of  the  missionary  enterprise  asked 
me  what,  in  my  opinion,  was  the  strongest  plea 
for  missions  which  could  be  presented  to  in- 
telligent persons  in  Christian  lands.  He  had 
just  been  surprised  and  almost  startled  by 
hearing  me  say  that  it  was  a  mistake  to  sup- 
pose that  a  faithful  portrayal  of  the  moral  state 
of  heathen  nations  was  the  surest  way  to  enlist 
the  sympathy  and  aid  of  Christians  in  America, 
and  he  even  seemed  a  little  perplexed  by  my 
willing  testimony  in  favor  of  some  praiseworthy 
virtues  which  I  had  found  among  the  people 
of  India.  It  is  too  often  assumed  that  Paul's 
terrible  arraignment  of  heathenism  as  it  existed 
in  some  parts  of  the  Roman  empire,  and  cs- 


12  THE   CIIRISTLESS   NATIONS. 

pecially  in  Rome  itself  during  the  first  cen- 
tury, must  serve  as  an  accurate  description  of 
the  moral  state  of  all  non-Christian  nations  in 
all  ages  of  the  world.  This,  however,  is  a  great 
mistake ;  and  even  if  it  were  true  it  would  not 
constitute  a  healthy  basis  for  an  appeal  in 
behalf  of  an  immediate  and  determined  effort 
to  evangelize  the  world.  Various  motives 
might  fairly  enough  be  appealed  to  in  such  a 
case  and  a  multitude  of  facts  cited  to  show 
how  much  all  nations  need  the  blessings  which 
only  the  Gospel  can  bestow  ;  but  if  asked  to 
state  in  few  words  what  it  is  which  makes  the 
condition  of  the  non-Christian  nations  most 
deplorable,  and  at  the  same  time  places  all 
Christian  nations  under  the  strongest  obliga- 
tions to  help  them,  I  should  simply  say  that 
such  nations  are,  as  Paul  reminded  the  Ephe- 
sian  Christians  that  they  had  once  been, 
"  without  Christ."  It  is  not  that  they  have 
never  heard  of  his  name,  that  they  have  never 
felt  the  influence  of  what  we  call  Christianity, 
that  they  have  never  been  brought  into  con- 
tact with  Christian  institutions  or  Christian 
civilization,  but  that  Christ  is  not  personally 
known  to  them,  is  not  among  them  in  the 
sense  in  which  he  promised  to  be  with  his 
people  for  evermore,  and  that  they  are  deprived 
of  all  the  unspeakable  privileges  which  those 


THE   CHRISTLESS   NATIONS.  1 3 

who   enjoy   personal  fellowship   with    him  so 
freely  receive. 

CHRIST   STILL   ON   EARTH. 

The  personal  presence  of  Jesus  Christ  among 
his  living  disciples  is  the  greatest  fact  in  the 
religious  world  to-day.  It  is  not  so  much  a 
great  truth  as  a  great  fact,  around  which  the 
leading  truths  of  the  Christian  system  gather, 
and  on  which  they  must  always  largely  depend 
when  presented  to  an  unbelieving  or  doubting 
world.  Nothing  could  have  been  more  ex- 
plicit than  our  Saviour's  farewell  assurance  to 
his  disciples  that  he  would  be  with  them 
always,  or  than  his  earlier  promise  that  he 
would  be  present  in  every  assembly  of  his 
people,  even  though  the  number  should  not 
exceed  two  or  three.  This  promised  presence 
was  not  to  be  visible,  but  it  was  to  be  none 
the  less  personal  and  real.  In  his  farewell  dis- 
course our  Saviour  comforted  his  disciples 
with  the  assurance  that  after  a  brief  separation 
he  would  return  to  them  again,  and,  while  in- 
visible and  unknown  to  the  world,  would  be 
manifested  as  a  living  presence  to  his  own, 
with  whom  he  would  establish  a  fellowship 
never  to  be  broken.  In  harmony  with  these 
teachings  we  find  the  early  Christians  familiar 
with  the  idea  as  well  as  w'ith  the  experience  of 


14  THE    CIIRISTLESS    NATIONS. 

companionship  with  the  risen  Son  of  God. 
They  did  not  merely  believe  on  him — they 
knew  him.  When  Paul  was  defending  his 
ministry  among  the  Galatian  Christians  he 
appealed  to  the  time  when  it  pleased  the 
Father  to  reveal  his  Son  to  his  inner  conscious- 
ness, and  when,  in  old  age,  he  was  about  to 
depart  he  was  able  to  say  in  holy,  confident 
triumph,  "  I  know  whom  I  have  believed." 
He  had  been  stopped  in  his  blind  career  by 
this  same  Jesus  on  the  Damascus  highway ; 
he  had  seen  him  in  vision  in  the  temple ;  had 
been  commissioned  by  him  to  go  far  hence  to 
the  Gentiles  ;  and  again,  in  the  tower  of  Anto- 
nia,  when  an  infuriated  multitude  clamored  for 
his  blood,  this  same  Jesus  had  spoken  to  him 
and  told  him  how  he  must  yet  bear  witness  in 
imperial  Rome. 

The  apostle  Paul  was  an  exceptional  man, 
but  in  knowing  his  risen  Lord  and  walking  in 
fellowship  with  him  his  happy  lot  was  only 
exceptional  in  some  of  its  peculiar  phases. 
Millions  of  living  Christians  are  to-day  able  to 
bear  witness  to  a  personal  knowledge  of  Jesus 
Christ.  As  in  the  case  of  Paul  this  knowledge 
is  sometimes  subjective  and  sometimes  object- 
ive. To  most  there  seems  to  be  a  mystical, 
and  yet  very  clear  and  personal,  manifestation 
of  Christ   to    the    inner    consciousness.     The 


THE    CHRISTLESS   NATIONS.  I  5 

awakened  sinner  seeks  a  Saviour,  hears  of 
Jesus,  believes  the  testimony,  and  emerges  into 
h'ght.  His  sins  vanish,  his  darkness  flees  away, 
and  he  discovers  a  newborn  love  in  his  heart 
for  the  Saviour  in  whom  he  has  believed.  He 
does  not  pause  to  analyze  his  thoughts,  but  he 
is  conscious  in  his  heart  of  hearts  that  he  loves 
Jesus  Christ  as  a  divine  Saviour.  Very  soon, 
possibly  at  the  same  moment,  he  discovers 
that  he  loves  God  as  his  heavenly  Father. 
He  knows  nothing  of  theology,  has  never  given 
a  thought  to  the  subject  of  the  Trinity,  but  he 
opens  John's  gospel  and  reads,  "  If  a  man  love 
me,  he  will  keep  my  words:  and  my  Father  will 
love  him,  and  we  will  come  unto  him,  and  make 
our  abode  with  him."  The  new  disciple  finds 
that  the  promise  given  at  the  beginning  has 
been  verified  in  his  own  experience.  He 
knows  God  as  his  Father  and  Christ  as  his 
Saviour,  both  being  revealed  to  him  by  the 
Holy  Spirit.  This  personal  Saviour  is  some- 
times recognized  as  an  inner  manifestation, 
made,  as  it  were,  in  the  very  holy  of  holies  of 
the  believing  heart ;  but  oftentimes  it  is  more 
like  the  outward  presence  of  a  companion  or 
guide.  The  experience  of  the  two  brethren 
walking  out  to  Emmaus  at  eventide  is  often 
repeated  in  our  day.  The  risen  Lord  may 
come  as  a  loving  friend,  or  he  may  pass  on 


l6  THE    CHRISTLESS   NATIONS. 

before  as  a  faithful  guide,  or  he  may  assume 
the  form  of  a  victorious  leader;  but  in  every 
case  the  distinctive  fact  which  we  need  to  note 
is  that  he  lives  among  his  own,  knows  them 
and  is  known  of  them,  and  through  them  car- 
ries forward  his  great  designs  concerning  the 
future  of  the  human  race. 

FOUND    ONLY  AMONG  HIS  OWN. 

Just  here,  however,  we  are  confronted  by  a 
most  momentous  question.  If  the  world's 
Messiah  is  in  very  deed  alive  and  present  in 
our  world,  is  his  presence  confined  to  those 
regions  where  his  disciples  are  found  ?  Is  he 
not  the  rightful  sovereign  of  all  the  world,  and 
did  he  not  assure  his  followers  that  all  power 
in  earth  and  heaven  had  been  given  into  his 
hands?  In  what  sense,  then,  can  we  say  that 
whole  nations  are  without  Christ? 

As  heir  to  all  things  in  earth  and  heaven, 
and  as  the  disposer  of  human  affairs,  our 
Saviour,  Christ,  is  no  doubt  in  this  world  to- 
day ;  and  we  do  well  to  reflect  that  he  who 
walked  about  among  the  villages  of  Galilee  is 
to-day  walking  about  among  the  nations,  dis- 
posing of  crowns  and  thrones  according  to  his 
sovereign  will,  guiding  in  all  the  events,  great 
and  small,  which  take  place  among  men,  and 
causing  all  things  to  work  together  so  as  to 


THE   CHRISTLESS   NATIONS.  1 7 

hasten  the  consummation  of  his  great  purpose- 
to  make  all  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  his  own. 
But  as  the  world's  Saviour  he  is  found  only 
with  his  own.  We  need  not  pause  to  ask  wliy 
this  is  so,  but  we  cannot  give  too  earnest  heed 
to  the  startling  fact  that  since  the  day  of  Pen- 
tecost Jesus  Christ  has  been  made  known  to 
the  world  only  through  the  medium  of  his  own 
disciples.  He  may  go  before  them,  may  pre- 
pare the  way  for  them,  as  in  the  case  of  Cor- 
nelius, but  the  disciple  and  the  Master  are 
inseparable  in  the  ordinary  administration  of 
the  Master's  work.  He  has  chosen  us  as  co- 
workers with  himself,  made  us  his  visible  repre- 
sentatives among  men,  and  assured  us  that  we 
shall  do  his  work  if  we  are  careful  to  do  his  will 
and  work  in  his  name.  The  disciples  of  to-day 
differ  from  those  who  walked  in  visible  fellow- 
ship with  Jesus  in  Galilee  in  that  tlicy  are 
more  highly  favored  than  the  first  disciples. 
The  latter  walked  and  talked  with  the  Master, 
shared  his  power,  and  at  times  performed  won- 
derful works  in  his  name ;  but  they  labored 
under  all  the  limitations  which  time  and  place 
imposed.  The  Saviour  could  only  be  present 
in  one  place  at  a  given  time,  could  only  minis- 
ter to  one  group  of  disciples,  and  could  only 
engage  in  one  particular  undertaking.  But 
under  the  present  dispensation   the  Spirit  re- 


l8  THE   CHRISTLESS   NATIONS. 

veals  his  personal  presence  in  a  million  hearts 
or  a  million  homes  at  the  same  moment. 
There  is  no  limit  to  his  "  wheresoever  "  save 
the  condition  that  living  disciples  must  com- 
mand his  presence  ;  but  this  condition,  bound 
up  as  it  is  in  his  first  great  commission,  is 
invariable  in  all  climes  and  all  ages. 

We  are  thus  brought  face  to  face  with  the 
startling  fact  that  on  the  disciples  of  Jesus 
Christ  rests  the  responsibility  of  giving  Christ 
to  the  nations  which  as  yet  do  not  know  him  ; 
but  before  considering  the  full  measure  of  this 
responsibility  it  may  be  well  to  take  a  glance 
at  the  condition  of  those  most  unfortunate 
multitudes  who  belong  to  what  might  be  called 
the  Christless  nations.  In  losing  the  knowl- 
edge and  personal  presence  of  Christ  what 
else  do  these  nations  lose?  What  has  this 
presence  been  worth  to  us  or  to  the  nation  to 
which  we  belong? 

WHAT   IS   THE   LOSS   OF   NON-CHRISTIANS? 

In  the  first  place,  those  who  are  without 
Christ  lose  his  personal  ministrations.  The 
Jesus  who  meets  his  people  invisibly  to-day  is 
the  same  Jesus  who  journeyed  with  them  in 
visible  form  in  the  days  of  his  humanity. 
There  was  only  one  Bethany  in  Judea,  but 
every    village  in  a  Christian   land  becomes  a 


THE   CHRISTLESS   NATIONS.  I9 

Bethany  in  our  more  favored  day.  There  was 
only  one  Nain  in  Israel,  but  the  Man  of  Naza- 
reth now  stands  waiting  to  meet  and  comfort 
every  funeral  procession  which  wends  its 
mournful  way  to  the  village  cemetery.  That 
which  was  exceptional  in  Gr.lilee  has  become 
universal  in  Christendom.  The  risen  Son  of 
God  waits  to  enter  every  abode  of  poverty,  to 
shed  light  upon  every  darkened  home,  to  com- 
fort everyone  that  mourns,  to  walk  serenely 
upon  the  waves  of  every  stormy  sea,  to  rescue 
every  endangered  soul,  to  lift  up  the  fallen,  to 
strengthen  the  weak,  to  reclaim  the  erring,  to 
turn  despair  into  hope,  darkness  into  light,  and 
out  from  the  very  shadow  of  death  itself  to  bring 
a  life  radiant  with  immortal  joy.  We  thus  see 
that  the  nations  have  more  at  stake  than  a 
mere  question  of  fact  concerning  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Christ.  If  Jesus  lives  at  all  he  lives  to 
minister  to  the  most  needy  of  the  human  race, 
and  every  community  which  has  failed  to  re- 
ceive him  is  daily  and  hourly  losing  blessings 
compared  with  which  every  other  form  of 
earthly  good  is  but  worthless  dross. 

In  the  next  place,  we  are  to  remember  that 
Christ  lives  and  works  among  men  in  the  per- 
son of  his  disciples.  Every  true  believer  bears 
the  name  of  his  Master,  and  is  solemnl)'  re- 
minded that  he  cannot  sain  access  to  God's 


20  THE    CIIRISTLESS    NATIONS. 

mercy  seat  in  any  (jthcr  naino.  He  is  made  a 
child  of  God,  a  member  of  the  heavenly  famil)' 
in  which  God  is  the  Father  and  Jesus  Christ 
the  Elder  Brother.  As  such  he  becomes  heir 
to  all  that  the  Elder  Brother  inherits;  he 
bears  his  spiritual  image,  and  in  an  important 
sense  shares  his  mission.  As  it  was  a  part  of 
the  Master's  mission  to  manifest  God,  so  it 
became  a  most  important  part  of  tlie  disciples' 
mission  to  manifest  Christ  to  men  ;  and  as  the 
Master  lived  to  save  the  perishing,  and  to 
minister  in  every  possible  way  to  the  wants  of 
those  in  need,  so  the  disciple,  if  true  to  his 
calling,  will  ever  be  found  absorbed  in  doing 
the  same  kind  of  work.  For  such  a  life,  or 
rather  for  such  a  mission,  he  receives  a  special 
call  and  a  special  anointing  ;  and  he  goes  forth 
to  bear  his  part  on  the  busy  stage  of  life  up- 
held by  the  promise  that  he  shall  not  only  do 
the  works  of  his  Master,  but  even  greater 
works  than  any  which  the  people  of  Galilee 
and  Judea  ever  witnessed.  We  thus  see  how 
it  happens  that  an  immense  multitude  of 
Christian  men  are  blessing  the  world  by  their 
active  work  and  silent  influence  to-day.  Their 
presence  and  their  usefulness  are  owing  solely 
to  the  fact  that  Christ  is  with  them.  The 
world  does  not  know  and  cannot  understand 
how  much  it  owes  to  these  disciples.     Each 


THE   CHRISTLESS   NATIONS.  21 

one  is  a  glowing  light  in  the  midst  of  dense 
darkness.  They  are  truly  the  salt  of  the  earth, 
the  one  conserving  element  in  the  midst  of 
corrupting  agencies  of  a  thousand  kinds.  They 
are  the  helpers  of  universal  humanity,  and 
many  of  them  show  such  power  in  grappling 
with  the  powers  of  evil,  such  courage  in  facing 
danger,  such  hope  in  battling  against  despair, 
and  such  divine  resources  in  saving  the  sinning 
and  the  perishing,  that  even  worldly  men  often 
feel  constrained  to  admit  that  they  are  sup- 
ported and  directed  b}-  a  power  and  wisdom 
which  must  come  from  above. 

THE   INFLUENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

The  presence  of  Christ  in  a  Clnistian  nation 
is  still  further  attested  by  what  is  sometimes 
called  the  "  influence  of  Christianity,"  which 
is  but  another  name  for  the  influence  of  a 
personal  Christ.  There  is  nothing  tangible 
about  this  influence,  nothing  that  can  be 
formulated  in  either  figures  or  words,  and 
yet  it  is  felt  everywhere.  It  is  found  em- 
bodied in  the  spirit  of  ever}'  code  of  laws 
in  Christendom  ;  it  is  exhibited  in  the  con- 
stantly increasing  eleemosynary  institutions 
of  all  kinds;  it  pervades  the  literature  of  the 
day ;  it  animates  every  reform  movement ;  it 
softens  the  rough  hand  of  war ;    it  refines  and 


22  THE   CHRISTLESS   NATIONS. 

ennobles  civilization,  and,  in  short,  seems  to 
permeate  the  very  atmosphere  with  a  health- 
ful spirit  of  life  and  hope.  Childhood  be- 
comes sacred  wherever  the  story  of  the  Babe 
of  Bethlehem  is  known.  Womanhood  be- 
comes ennobled  wherever  the  history  of  Mary 
of  Bethany,  or  of  Mary  of  Magdala,  or  still 
more  of  Mary  of  Bethlehem,  has  been  told. 
The  poor  are  moved  by  new  aspirations,  and 
humanity  seems  animated  by  new  hopes. 
Wherever  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  has  been 
carried  man  has  learned  how  to  open  the 
prison  house  of  despair  and  to  see  light  beyond 
the  darkness  of  the  grave. 

This  invisible  and  yet  wonderfully  pervasive 
influence  has  been  strikingly  illustrated  in 
the  astonishing  political  transformation  which 
Japan  has  experienced  during  the  past  forty 
years.  Alone  among  all  non-Christian  peoples 
the  Japanese  have  freely  accepted  Christian 
ideas  and,  to  a  great  extent,  Christian  institu- 
tions, and  have  thus  made  a  great  stride  in 
the  direction  of  Christian  civilization,  although 
not  yet  formally  accepting  the  Christian  re- 
ligion. The  result  is  marvelous  beyond  any- 
thing yet  witnessed  in  human  history.  Of 
all  non-Christian  peoples  it  may  be  said  that, 
since  the  beginning  of  our  era,  at  least,  none 
of  them  have,  without  external  aid,  been  able 


THE    CHRISTLESS    NATIONS.  2^ 

to  make  any  advance  in  the  arts  of  civilization, 
none  have  been  able  to  display  the  slightest 
inventive  genius,  and  none,  except  a  very  small 
minority,  have  been  able  to  rise  above  the  low 
level  of  grinding  poverty.  Century  after  century 
passes  without  a  single  invention,  no  matter  how 
simple,  among  one  half  the  human  race.  Cen- 
tury after  century  passes  only  to  witness  the 
gradual  but  steady  and  relentless  subsidence 
of  the  masses  of  people  into  utter  poverty 
and  wretchedness.  Christ  among  men  is  not 
only  the  hope  of  immortality  to  mankind,  the 
eternal  pledge  of  a  better  life  than  that  of 
earth,  but  he  is  the  hope  of  the  industrial 
world,  of  the  social  world,  and  of  the  intellec- 
tual world.  Without  him  the  nations  have  no 
better  future  than  their  dismal  past,  and  all 
hope  of  future  progress  may  as  well  be  dis- 
missed from  the  thought  of  the  world.  In 
whatever  direction  we  turn  we  are  met  with 
ever-increasing  proofs  that  our  world  has 
great  and  urgent  needs  which  only  can  be  met 
in  the  presence  of  the  Saviour  of  men. 

TEN   HUNDRED    MILLIONS   WITHOUT  CHRIST. 

These  and  other  considerations  of  like 
character  will  no  doubt  bring  very  vividly  be- 
fore the  mind  of  a  Christian  believer  a  sense 
of  the  unspeakable  loss  of  those  who  are  born 


24  THE    CHRISTLESS   NATIONS. 

and  grow  up  without  Christ  ;  but,  after  all,  tb.e 
strongest  appeal  of  this  kind  is  that  which  is 
made  to  our  own  hearts  as  individual  Chris- 
tians, What  is  Christ  to  each  of  us  to-day? 
What  has  he  been  to  us  since  we  have  per- 
sonally known  him?  What  was  his  presence 
with  our  parents  worth  to  our  childhood? 
Where  and  what  would  we  as  individuals  have 
been  to-day  had  we  never  found  him  ?  What 
would  our  lives  be  to-day  if  Christ  were  taken 
out  of  them  ?  What  vvould  this  world  be  to 
us,  what  would  life  be  to  us,  what  would  our 
future  be,  if  we  were  suddenly  and  completely 
bereft  of  our  Saviour,  Christ  ?  What  would 
existence  be  to  us  if  thus  bereft  ?  It  would 
be  day  bereft  of  the  sun,  and  night  disrobed 
of  stars.  To  take  Christ  away  from  a  believer 
is  to  take  light  and  joy  out  of  the  heart  and 
sweetness  and  peace  out  of  the  life.  And  }-et 
this  is  the  lot  of  uncounted  millions  of  our 
race.  We  may  say,  it  is  true,  that  they  are 
unconscious  of  their  loss;  but  this  does  not 
change  the  facts  as  God  reveals  them  to  us,  or 
lessen  our  responsibility  in  the  slightest  de- 
gree. 

It  has  been  estimated  that  there  are  ten 
hundred  million  human  beings  in  the  world 
who,  so  far  from  knowing  Christ  as  a  per- 
sonal Saviour,  have  as  yet  never  even  heard 


THE    CHRISTLESS    NATIONS. 


-D 


his  name.  Tcii  hundred  millions  of  human 
beings  without  Christ !  The  very  thought  of 
such  a  multitude  of  souls  groping  in  darkness 
is  overwhehning;  and  yet  the  mind  fails  to 
grasp  the  full  import  of  the  words.  It  has 
been  said  that  no  millionaire  ever  comprehends 
the  full  extent  of  his  wealth  after  it  passes  the 
million-dollar  line.  The  figures  express  a  certain 
numerical  statement,  but  to  the  mind  there  is 
only  an  array  of  figures,  an  arithmetical  ex- 
pression instead  of  a  clear  perception  of  dis- 
tributed values.  We  cannot  take  in  at  a 
glance  this  vast  multitude  of  Christless  men 
and  women ;  but  we  may  possibly  gain  a 
clearer  view  of  the  almost  endless  throng  by 
looking  at  them  in  detail.  Let  us,  for  instance, 
take  up  a  position  where  all  these  millions  can 
pass  before  us  with  military  precision.  Let 
them  be  formed  in  ranks  with  thirty  abreast,  and 
let  them  pass  before  us  with  rapid  step,  so  that 
thirty  shall  pass  every  second.  I  take  out  my 
watch  and  note  the  ticking  away  of  sixty 
seconds ;  eighteen  hundred  persons  have 
passed  by.  I  watch  the  minute  hand  till  sixty 
minutes  are  gone;  one  hundred  and  eight 
thousand  more  have  passed.  I  stand  at  my 
post  and  watch  the  ceaseless  tread  of  the 
passing  thousands  till  the  sun  goes  down,  till 
midnight  comes,  till  dawn  and  sunrise  come 


26  THE    CHRISTLESS    NATIONS. 

again,  and  there  is  never  a  second's  pause. 
Another  day  and  another  night  go  by  ;  the 
days  lengthen  into  weeks  ;  the  thousands  have 
long  since  become  millions  ;  but  there  is  still 
no  pause.  Summer  comes,  with  its  sunny 
days,  to  find  the  long  procession  marching 
still.  The  flowers  of  summer  give  place  to 
autumn's  frosts,  and  a  little  later  the  snow  of 
winter  is  flying  in  the  air ;  but  morning,  noon, 
and  night  we  hear  the  awful  tread  of  the  passing 
multitude.  Spring  comes  round  again  ;  a 
year  has  passed,  and  yet  not  for  one  moment 
has  that  procession  ever  paused.  "  Will  that 
awful  footfall  never  cease?"  some  one  asks. 
We  take  a  glance  out  to  see  how  many  yet 
remain,  and  find  seventy-five  millions  patiently 
waiting  their  turn  !  That  is  a  faint  attempt  to 
grasp  the  meaning  of  our  words  when  we  speak 
often  hundred  million  human  beings. 

MERELY  NOMINAL  WORK  WILL  NOT  DO. 

We  sometimes  hear  it  said  that  the  great 
commission  to  proclaim  the  Gospel  to  all 
nations  has  been  almost  completed,  and  good 
men  and  women  may  be  seen  even  now  gath- 
ering outside  the  closed  gates  of  Thibet,  eager 
to  enter  at  the  earliest  possible  moment  and 
preach  the  Gospel  to  the  last  remaining  nation 
which  has  not  yet  heard  its  joyful  sound.     God 


THE   CHRISTLESS   NATIONS.  2/ 

forbid  that  I  should  say  a  word  to  disparage 
either  the  spirit  or  the  work  of  these  earnest 
men  and  women,  one  of  the  most  daring  of 
whom  is  working  under  my  own  superintend- 
ence ;  but  as  Christians  we  must  not  deceive 
ourselves.  Thibet  is  by  no  means  the  only 
nation  to  which  the  Gospel  has  not  been 
preached.  A  nation  is  not  reached  when  one 
or  more  men  preach  in  a  given  place,  nor  does 
the  mere  proclamation  of  a  message  of  truth 
constitute  the  Gospel  so  long  as  Christ  is  not 
made  known  to  the  people.  A  nation  is 
reached  when  the  people  of  the  nation  are 
reached,  and  not  when  a  certain  territorial 
line  is  crossed.  I  have  over  and  over  again 
found  villages  within  but  a  few  miles  of  pros- 
perous mission  stations  in  which  not  a  single 
person  could  be  found  who  knew  anything  of 
Christ  or  had  even  heard  his  name.  The 
prophets  in  old  time  were  always  most  explicit 
in  recording  God's  precious  words  of  promise, 
and  the  preaching  which  they  foretold  had 
nothing  of  a  perfunctory  character  about  it. 
They  looked  forward  to  a  time  when  all 
kingdoms,  and  nations,  and  peoples,  and 
kindreds,  and  tribes,  and  languages  should  re- 
ceive God's  word  and  serve  the  coming  King; 
and  we  dare  not  limit  promises  so  full  of  hope 
to  the  Church  and  the  world. 


2  8  THE    CHRISTLESS    NATIONS. 

We  should  remember,  too,  that  the  word 
"  nation  "  does  not  always  mean  a  political 
division  of  the  world.  We  may  often  find 
nations  within  nations.  India  is  the  oldest  of 
modern  mission  fields,  and  yet  its  tribes  and 
peoples  and  castes,  among  whom  Christ  is 
still  unknown,  are  numbered  by  the  hundred. 
It  will  not  do  to  reckon  India  as  simply  one 
of  the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  then  calmly  to 
assume  that  we  have  done  our  full  measure  of 
duty  to  her  in  that  the  Gospel  is  proclaimed 
in  many  places  and  in  many  tongues  through- 
out her  extended  borders.  Only  a  year  ago  I 
had  my  attention  drawn  to  an  extensive  re- 
gion lying  to  the  eastward  of  the  Central  Prov- 
inces, composed,  for  the  most  part,  of  a  group 
of  small  native  States,  and  said  to  be  wholly 
destitute  of  missionary  labor.  After  careful 
inquiry  I  asked  three  experienced  missionaries 
to  make  a  tour  of  exploration  through  that 
part  of  the  country  and  report  the  result  of 
their  observations.  They  did  their  work  care- 
fully and  thoroughly,  and  in  due  time  reported 
to  me  that  they  had  found  six  millions  of 
people  to  whom  no  messenger  of  the  risen 
Saviour  had  ever  gone.  The  whole  region  was 
as  destitute  of  Christian  privileges  as  it  had 
been  when  Jesus  gave  the  great  commission 
to  his  apostles  ;   and   among  these    neglected 


THE    CIIRISTLESS    NATIONS.  29 

millions  were  petty  kingdoms,  different  tribes, 
separate  castes,  and  diverse  tongues,  all  in- 
cluded in  the  old-time  promises,  and  yet  all 
destitute  of  the  Gospel,  which  must  be  carried 
to  the  whole  human  race.  A  careful  search  in 
other  lands  would  no  doubt  lead  to  similar  dis- 
coveries. There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  sad 
fact  confronts  us  that  the  evangelization  of  our 
world,  so  far  from  being  nearly  complete,  has 
hardly  passed  its  initial  stage.  The  mighty 
task  can  be  done,  must  be  done,  and  done 
quickly  ;  but  we  must  not  try  to  persuade  our- 
selves that  it  is  already  nearly  complete. 

BEARING   CHRIST   TO   THE   NATIONS. 

Having  thus  briefl)'  considered  the  unspeak- 
able loss  of  the  earth's  teeming  millions  who 
are  without  Christ,  let  us  try  for  a  moment  to 
obtain  a  clear  view  of  our  personal  responsi- 
bility, or,  perhaps  it  would  be  better  to  say, 
of  our  transcendent  privilege,  in  being  com- 
missioned to  convey  God's  great  gift  to  these 
destitute  nations.  It  is  not  that  we  are  to 
send  Bibles  across  the  sea,  or  that  we  are  to 
send  a  certain  number  of  men  to  preach  what 
is  called  "the  Gospel,"  but  rather  that  we  are 
placed  under  a  solemn  obligation  to  carry 
Christ  himself  to  those  who  know  him  not. 
When  Jesus  fed  the  multitude  it  would  have 
3 


30  THE    CIIRISTLESS    NATIONS. 

been  as  easy  for  him  to  have  had  the  bread 
conveyed  by  invisible  hands  to  the  hungry 
people  as  it  was  to  multiply  the  loaves ;  but  a 
lesson  was  to  be  taught  to  his  disciples  of  all 
ages,  the  full  significance  of  which  should 
never  be  overlooked.  The  bread  had  to  be 
distributed  by  human  hands,  and  the  incredu- 
lous disciples  were  taught,  in  a  m.anner  never 
to  be  forgotten,  how  the  divine  and  the  human 
are  made  to  cooperate  in  feeding  a  famished 
world  with  the  bread  of  life.  The  scene  upon 
the  grassy  hillside  was  to  be  reenacted  a 
million  times  as  the  ages  passed  by.  Other 
multitudes  were  to  be  found,  worn  and  weary 
and  ready  to  perish,  and  other  disciples  were 
to  go  to  their  help  with,  not  the  bread  that 
perisheth,  but  the  living  Son  of  God,  the  ever- 
blessed  One  typified  by  the  ancient  manna. 

Some  of  you  still  remember  how,  in  the  sad 
days  of  our  civil  war,  we  used  to  sing  Mrs. 
Howe's  "Battle  Hymn  of  the  Republic."  As 
the  hymn  was  printed  and  reprinted  all  over 
the  country  it  so  happened  that  one  word  be- 
came involved  in  doubt,  and  thus,  while  some 
were  singing, 

"  In  the  beauty  of  the  lilies  Christ  was  born  across  the  sea," 

others  would  say, 

"  In  the  beauty  of  the  lilies  Christ  was  borne  across  the  sea." 


THE    CHRISTLESS    NATIONS.  3 1 

In  a  song  so  highly  poetical  it  is  possible  to 
admit  either  word  ;  but,  whatever  the  true 
rendering  of  the  words  may  have  been,  we  are 
able  in  our  missionary  era,  not  only  in  poetic 
phrase,  but  in  sober  prose  as  well,  to  conceive 
of  our  Saviour  being  borne  on  many  a  bark  to 
distant  climes  as  the  companion  of  devoted 
messengers  who  go  forth  in  his  name.  Every 
ship  which  carries  a  band  of  missionaries  con- 
tains an  invisible  pillow  for  the  head  of  the 
unseen  Master.  The  timid  maiden  who  leaves 
her  village  home  in  obedience  to  the  Spirit's 
prompting,  and  goes  forth  to  teach  a  few  of 
the  world's  forsaken  outcasts  how  to  find  and 
serve  their  heavenly  Father,  bears  with  her  in 
holy  companionship  the  Saviour  of  men,  the 
King  of  all  nations,  and  the  Sovereign  of  all 
realms.  This,  and  nothing  less  than  this,  is 
what  every  true  missionary  is  called  upon  to 
do,  and  this  is  what  scores  upon  scores  are 
actually  doing  to-day. 

As  we  think  of  the  character  which  the  mis- 
sionary's work  thus  assumes  we  cease  to  think 
of  duty ;  we  almost  forget  the  word  and  be- 
come absorbed  in  the  thought  of  the  transcend- 
ent privilege  Avhich  is  thus  set  before  us.  As 
we  would  take  a  physician  to  the  sick  or  dying, 
a  guide  to  the  belated  and  v/andering,  a  com- 
forter to  the  sorrowing,  a  teacher  to  the  igno- 


32  THE    CHRISTLESS   NATIONS. 

rant,  a  friend  to  the  friendless,  or  a  helper  to 
the  helpless,  so  are  we  commissioned  as  Chris- 
tians to  go  out  to  every  needy  tribe  and 
nation,  taking  with  us  One  who  is  able  and 
infinitely  willing  to  receive  every  member  of 
the  human  race  and  supply  every  form  of 
human  need.  We  cannot  all  go,  it  is  true,  but 
every  missionary  who  goes  abroad  does  so  in 
the  name  of  those  who  send  him,  and  we  all 
alike  are  thus  permitted  to  bear  a  part  in  the 
most  glorious  work  which  God  has  ever  put 
within  the  reach  of  human  beings.  Perhaps 
nothing  in  all  God's  plans  for  the  human  race 
is  more  mysterious  than  the  fact  that  this  un- 
speakable power,  this  hallowed  privilege,  has 
been  intrusted  to  mortals.  Angels  celebrated 
the  advent  of  Jesus  to  earth,  angels  ministered 
to  him  when  among  men,  angels  proclaimed 
his  resurrection,  and  angels  hover  around 
every  scene  of  his  active  work  in  our  world 
still ;  but  not  to  angels,  but  to  men,  is  it  given 
to  introduce  him  to  the  sinning,  suffering,  and 
sorrowing  children  of  humanity,  and  thus 
achieve  the  highest  possible  ministry  in  which 
men  or  angels  can  engage  in  a  world  like  ours. 

OUR  PRIVILEGE  SLIGHTED. 

With  such  a  ministry  set  before  us,  a  minis- 
try which  angels  might  covet,  with  the  doors 


THE   CHRISTLESS   NATIONS.  33 

of  nearly  all  nations  thrown  wide  open  to  in- 
vite our  entry,  with  the  Spirit,  the  word,  and 
the  providence  of  God  alike  urging  us  forward, 
it  would  be  but  reasonable  to  expect  to  see  a 
great  missionary  movement  going  forward  in 
all  Christian  lands.  There  surely  ought  to  be 
no  room  for  doubt  or  hesitation  here.  From 
the  doors  of  every  Christian  nation  the  glad 
messengers  of  Christ  ought  to  be  seen  hasten- 
ing forth,  bearing  in  their  earthen  vessels  the 
precious  treasure  of  the  divine  presence.  But 
when  we  look  around  us  what  do  we  see? 
Almost  every  possible  form  of  Christian  work 
is  put  forward  as  a  substitute  for  that  which 
takes  precedence  of  all  other  obligations.  One 
stands  forth  to  plead  for  the  city  "slums" 
(pardon  me  for  using  the  word,  but  it  has  be- 
come current,  and  has  no  present  equivalent), 
another  advocates  the  claims  of  our  foreign 
immigrants,  a  third  tells  of  want  and  suffering 
on  the  frontier,  a  fourth  represents  the  wants 
of  the  illiterate  colored  population,  while  a 
dozen  of  other  voices  are  heard  in  behalf  of  as 
many  other  blessed  enterprises,  all  good  and 
deserving  in  their  way  and  in  their  proper 
place  ;  but  no  one  of  them,  nor  all  of  them  put 
together,  can  take  precedence  of  the  one 
great  work  which  our  risen  and  ascended  Lord 
intrusted  to   his   disciples,  the    supreme    and 


34  THE    CHRISTLESS   NATIONS. 

paramount  duty,  binding  upon  all  Christians 
in  all  ages,  to  make  him  known  to  those  who 
have  no  knowledge  of  him.  Christianity  is 
utterly  inconsistent  with  its  own  claims  so 
long  as  it  fails  to  comprehend  the  urgency  of 
its  own  mission  on  earth  or  pauses  in  its  on- 
ward march  to  complete  details  which  are  hin- 
dered rather  than  helped  by  the  mistalccn 
policy  which  their  promoters  adopt. 

It  often  makes  me  feel  sad  and  almost  faint 
of  heart  when  I  hear  intelligent  and  devoted 
Christians  calmly  excuse  themselves  from  any 
obligation  to  support  the  efforts  of  the  Church 
to  evangelize  the  heathen  world.  "  I  think,"' 
says  one,  "  that  I  can  do  more  good  in  this, 
that,  or  the  other  way.  I  am  not  very  sure 
about  foreign  missions.  I  think  my  duty  lies 
nearer  home."  Now,  substitute  for  the  term 
"  foreign  missions  "  Jesus  Christ,  and  see  how 
it  will  sound.  Try  to  realize,  even  for  a  mo- 
ment, what  it  is  to  assume  that  great  nations, 
that  hundreds  of  millions  of  our  fellow-men, 
can  be  left  century  after  century  without 
Christ,  without  a  knowledge  of  God,  without 
a  hope  of  immortality,  while  we  are  making 
desultory  efforts  to  perfect  the  work  which 
our  Saviour  in  his  infinite  mercy  began  in  our 
own  land  in  the  days  of  our  fathers — try,  I  say, 
to  realize  what  this  really  means,  and  soon  it 


THE    CHRISTLESS    NATIONS.  35 

will  begin  to  seem  as  if  a  veiled  spirit  of  daring 
atheism  vv-ere  invading  the  Church  of  Christ. 
No  I'orm  of  unbelief  or  error  is  so  pernicious 
as  that  which  is  elaborately  illustrated  in  the 
practical  life  of  Christian  men  and  women.  Bet- 
ter teach  and  preach  the  doctrine  of  a  limited 
atonement  than  limit  the  effects  of  Christ's 
universal  atonement  by  our  deliberate  refusal 
to  make  liim  known  to  those  for  whom  he 
died.  Better  deny  the  mission  of  Christ  to 
earth  than  resolutely  to  adopt  and  defend  a 
policy  which  must,  for  many  long  centuries, 
shut  off  two  thirds  of  the  race  from  even  a 
knowledge  of  his  name.  It  cannot  be  said  too 
often  or  too  emphatically  that  as  Christians  we 
have  little  to  fear  from  men  of  Mr.  Ingersoll's 
class.  Such  men  do  harm,  no  doubt;  but  they 
avow  their  purpose,  they  work  openly,  and 
they  use  no  concealed  weapons.  It  is  better 
to  deny  Christ  in  express  terms  than  solemnly 
to  avovv'  our  belief  in  him  and  yet  practically 
deny  him  by  discrediting  his  work,  limiting  his 
mission,  putting  territorial  limits  to  his  love, 
and  deliberately  and  persistently  ignoring  the 
terms  of  his  farewell  commandment  to  his 
apostles,  and  through  them  to  his  disciples  of 
all  ages. 

Let  no  one  misunderstand  me  and    suppose 
that  I    depreciate  Christian  work  in  its   many 


36  THE    CHRISTLESS    NATIONS. 

ftji'ins  in  our  own  and  other  Christian  lands. 
God  forbid  that  I  should  for  one  moment  fall 
into  the  fatal  error  of  thinking  that  one  good 
cause  can  be  built  up  by  pulling  down  another. 
The  work  of  God  on  earth  assumes  a  thousand 
forms,  and  yet  it  is  one  work.  To  injure  it 
at  one  point  is  to  injure  it  at  every  point ;  and 
it  is  for  this  reason  we  need  to  give  the  more 
earnest  heed  to  God's  missionary  call  upon  his 
people  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  This  call  is 
in  universal  terms,  it  requires  immediate  obe- 
dience, it  concerns  the  universal  Church  of 
God,  and  it  cannot  be  disobeyed  without  caus- 
ing serious  injury  to  all  forms  of  Christian 
work  to-day.  The  surest  and  the  best  way  to 
promote  all  forms  of  Christian  work  in  Chris- 
tian lands  is  to  give  effect  to  the  great  com- 
mission which  takes  precedence  of  every  other 
obligation.  The  best  way  to  help  the  work  at 
home  is  to  obey  God  by  making  Christ  known 
to  the  nations  which  sit  in  darkness.  In  plead- 
ing for  the  Christless  nations  I  am  really  plead- 
ing for  this  city,  for  this  State,  for  all  the 
States  of  the  Union. 

WHAT   IS  A   CHRISTIAN   NATION? 

It  will  be  said,  no  doubt,  as  it  often  is  said, 
that  our  country  is  by  no  means  Christianized 
as  yet,  and  that  we  are  in  reality  obeying  our 


THE   CHRISTLESS   NATIONS.  37 

Saviour's  commission  so  long  as  we  are  en- 
gaged in  bringing  those  who  know  him  not  to 
a  personal  knowledge  of  him.  This  raises  the 
very  practical  question,  What  is  a  Christian 
nation  ?  We  have  seen  what  is  meant  by  a 
Christless  nation,  that  is,  one  in  which  our 
Saviour  is  wholl}'  unknown  ;  but  it  is  not  so 
easy  to  define  in  exact  terms  what  it  is  which 
entitles  a  nation  to  call  itself  Christian.  Time 
Avill  not  admit  of  a  full  discussion  of  this  ques- 
tion ;  but  a  few  points  of  contrast  will  at  least 
enable  us  to  appreciate  our  advantages.  Every 
man  and  woman  in  England  and  America  who 
wishes  to  be  guided  to  the  world's  Saviour  can 
find  a  willing  guide  within  a  few  minutes,  or,  at 
most,  a  few  hours.  Living  Christians  are  met 
everywhere,  and  those  who  are  willing  and 
anxious  to  be  led  can  always  find  some  one 
who  will  be  glad  to  lead  them  to  the  Saviour, 
as  Philip  led  Nathanael.  It  is  very  different 
in  non-Christian  lands.  Millions  upon  millions 
might  ask  for  such  a  guide  in  vain.  At  the 
very  worst  here  and  there  an  individual  may 
grope  in  darkness  on  our  side  of  the  globe, 
but  on  the  other  side  we  see  the  sad  and 
startling  spectacle  of  groping  nations. 

A  few  years  ago  a  question  was  raised  among 
certain  missionaries  in  India  concerning  the 
boundaries   of  their  respective  mission  fields. 


38  THE   CHRISTLESS   NATIONS. 

It  had  been  tacitly  assumed  that  when  a  given 
field  was  occupied  by  one  party  of  workers 
others  should  refrain  from  entering  it ;  but  in 
some  cases  misunderstandings  occurred,  and  it 
became  necessary  to  define  the  word  "  occupy." 
Some  contended  that  if  one  or  more  mission- 
aries established  a  station  in  a  district  contain- 
ing a  million  inhabitants  they  occupied  that 
field  and  should  be  left  to  evangelize  the  peo- 
ple in  their  own  time  and  way  ;  but  others 
took  a  very  different  view  and  insisted  that  no 
occupancy  should  be  respected  unless  a  practi- 
cal effort  was  made  to  plant  out-stations  at 
suitable  points.  In  the  course  of  the  discus- 
sion which  followed  the  most  liberal  proposal 
that  was  made  was  that  a  field  should  be  con- 
sidered open  so  long  as  provision  was  not 
made  for  placing  at  least  one  Christian  within 
ten  miles  of  every  home  in  the  district ;  or,  in 
other  words,  the  Christian  workers  should  be 
so  distributed  among  the  people  that  no  one 
need  go  more  than  ten  miles  from  his  home  in 
order  to  find  one.  This  proposal,  however, 
did  not  meet  with  favor,  chiefl}'  for  the  reason 
that  it  seemed  impossible  to  make  such  a  pro- 
vision for  any  known  mission  field.  It  seemed 
too  much  to  hope  that  helpers  and  guides 
could  be  placed  within  reach  of  the  people 
even  if  they  were  disposed  to  seek  them. 


THE    CHRISTLESS    NATIONS.  39 

But,  unfortunatel)^  they  are  not  so  disposed. 
The  order  of  tlie  Gospel  is  that  we  must  go  to 
the  lost  and  perishing,  not  that  we  should 
wait  for  them  to  come  to  us.  In  times  of 
famine  hundreds  of  thousands  of  the  poor  peo- 
ple in  India  remain  in  their  village  homes  and 
die  of  hunger,  while  camps  for  the  free  distri- 
bution of  food  are  established  within  ten  miles 
of  them.  Hunger  and  physical  weakness  seem 
to  render  them  incapable  of  effort  and  indiffer- 
ent to  their  fate,  while  in  the  case  of  many  a 
journey  of  ten  miles  from  home  seems  like 
setting  out  for  a  distant  and  utterly  unknown 
country.  If  it  is  so  hard  to  induce  those  who 
are  ready  to  die  to  go  away  from  home  to  ob- 
tain bread,  what  possible  use  is  there  in  expect- 
ing those  who  are  perishing  for  want  of  the 
bread  of  life  to  go  ten  miles  from  home  to 
inquire  concerning  it  ?  Now  and  then  we 
meet  with  such  cases,  and  as  time  passes  they 
may  become  more  frcc^uent,  but  at  best  they 
will  be  e^:ceptional.  America  and  England 
are  but  iniperfcctl)'  Christianized,  it  is  true, 
but  they  have  all  the  elements  within  them 
which  are  needed  to  complete  the  v/ork,  and  in 
at  least  a  iclative  sense  they  arc  now  Christian 
nations;  but  in  contrast  with  them  the  con- 
dition of  the  most  favored  of  non-Christian 
lands  is  such  as  should  move  the  deepest  sym- 


40  THE    CHRISTLESS    NATIONS. 

pathies  of  everyone  who  bears  the  image  of 
Jesus  Christ  upon  his  heart.  Now,  as  in  the 
days  of  our  Lord's  ministry,  it  is  enough  for 
the  disciple  that  he  be  as  his  Master,  for  the 
servant  that  he  be  as  his  Lord.  The  love  of 
Jesus  Christ  for  the  human  race  is  world-em- 
bracing;  let  ours  be  the  same.  Let  us  main- 
tain the  same  attitude  toward  this  momentous 
question  that  he  maintains,  and  the  unbelieving 
world  will  quickly  begin  to  realize  that  Chris- 
tianity is  consistent  with  itself,  and  that  Chris- 
tians no  longer  dishonor  the  sacred  name  which 
they  bear  by  refusing  or  neglecting  to  make  it 
possible  for  all  nations  to  crown  him  as  both 
their  Saviour  and  their  Kine. 


MISSIONARY  POSSIBILITIES. 


MISSIONARY  POSSIBILITIES. 

THE  present  time  is  opportune  for  a  careful 
and  candid  discussion  of  the  practical 
value  of  the  great  missionary  movement.  The 
second  century  of  modern  missions  has  recently 
opened,  the  sphere  of  missionary  work  has 
been  immensely  enlarged,  young  men  and 
women  are  enlisting  for  service  abroad  in  con- 
stantly increasing  numbers,  and  the  friends  of 
the  cause  are  becoming  more  and  more  impor- 
tunate in  their  demands  upon  the  public  for 
pecuniary  support.  Under  such  circumstances 
it  is  certainly  reasonable  that  we  should  be 
asked  to  show  that  money  given  for  this  cause 
is  not  spent  for  naught  ;  that  young  men  and 
women  who  go  to  the  foreign  field  do  not,  or 
at  least  need  not,  toil  in  vain  ;  and  that  suc- 
cess, in  the  highest  and  noblest  sense  of  the 
word,  may  be  achieved  as  certainly,  and  in  as 
large  measure,  in  the  mission  field  as  anywhere 
else  in  the  wide  domain  of  Christian  effort. 
The  missionary  enterprise  occupies  very  high 
ground,  and  after  a  century  of  heroic  effort  it 
certainly  ought  to  be  well  able  to  show  by  ac- 
complished results  not  only  that  it  has  achieved 


44  MISSIONARY    POSSIBILITIES. 

success  in  the  past,  but  that  it  enters  upon  its 
second  century  with  greater  possibilities  within 
its  reach  than  were  dreamed  of  a  century  ago. 

CAREFUL  INQUIRY  NEEDED. 

A  statement  of  the  missionary  possibiHties 
which  God  is  now  setting  before  the  Church  is 
the  more  needed  in  view  of  the  doubts  which 
not  a  few  avowed  friends  of  Christianity 
have  in  recent  years  expressed  with  reference 
to  the  ultimate  success  of  the  enterprise. 
Canon  Taylor,  of  England,  may  be  taken  as  a 
fair  spokesman  of  this  class,  and  it  must  be 
admitted  that  he  has  many  followers.  His 
arithmetic  is  faulty,  no  doubt ;  and  yet,  when 
he  compares  the  results  thus  far  achieved  with 
the  gigantic  task  which  has  been  taken  in 
hand,  it  must  be  confessed  that  he  makes  out 
a  strong  case,  and  there  is  too  much  reason  to 
fear  that  his  presentation  of  the  question  has 
created  serious  misgiving  in  the  minds  of  many 
sincere  Christians.  While  admitting  that  some 
good  is  done,  that  a  few  idols  are  thrown  away 
and  a  few  heathen  brought  to  Christ,  thousands 
and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  intelligent 
Christians  are  unable  to  see  any  promise  of 
ultimate  success  in  a  work  of  such  magnitude. 
Others,  again,  with  hazy  notions  of  Christianity 
and  without  any  sympathy  for  the  idea  of  a 


MISSIONARY    POSSIBILITIES.  45 

common  faith  for  our  common  humanity,  re- 
gard the  missionary  enterprise  as  chimerical, 
if  not  worse,  and  do  not  dream  of  its  ever 
making  an  impression  of  any  importance  on 
the  world.  Another  class  of  doubters  may  be 
found  among  the  supporters  of  missions  them- 
selves. Many  who  believe  in  the  duty  of 
sending  missionaries  to  the  non-Christian  na- 
tions have  yet  but  little  hope  or  expectation 
of  success  in  the  work.  They  practically  be- 
lieve that  while  in  this  work  all  things  are  pos- 
sible not  many  things  are  probable.  They  do 
not  expect  success,  and  some  even  think  it 
wrong  to  look  for  it.  "  I  have  nothing  to  do 
with  results,"  is  practically  the  motto  of  thou- 
sands who  find  in  these  mistaken  words  a  ready 
excuse  for  their  want  of  success.  The  Chris- 
tian worker  has  very  much  to  do  with  the  pos- 
sible results  of  his  labor,  and  in  the  great  mis- 
sionary field  it  is  most  important  that  the 
highest  possibilities  should  be  clearly  set  be- 
fore hini  and  kept  constantly  in  vit^w. 

If  it  should  seem  to  anyone  that  this  is 
ignoring  the  rule  of  faith,  or  putting  sight  in 
the  place  which  faith  should  occupy,  I  need 
only  reply  that  faith  should  not  ignore  the 
ordinary  laws /Df  human  intelligence.  Unbelief 
is  blind  and  works  in  the  dark;  but  faith  has  a 
clear  vision  and  loves  the  light.     It  is  not  the 


46  MISSIONARY    POSSIBILITIES. 

work  of  faith  to  select  a  barren  field,  or  to 
Avork  in  a  wrong  way,  or  to  persist  in  a  fruitless 
task,  or  to  ignore  the  lessons  of  the  past,  or  to 
refuse  to  see  the  tokens  of  the  present.  It 
would  not  have  been  an  evidence  of  faith,  for 
instance,  if  the  disciples  had  refused  to  cast  in 
the  net  on  the  right  side  of  the  ship,  and  had 
persisted  in  fishing  at  the  spot  where  they  had 
spent  a  long  night  of  fruitless  toil  instead  of 
obeying  their  Pvlaster  and  thereby  making  suc- 
cess assured. 

The  Church  of  Christ,  standing  as  she  does 
near  the  threshold  of  the  twentieth  century, 
needs  the  encouragement  which  an  intelligent 
survey  of  her  opportunities  and  possibilities 
cannot  fail  to  give  her.  Faith  is  said  to  laugh 
at  impossibilities,  but  this  is  only  v/hen  seeing 
the  promise  of  God.  If  we  would  stimulate 
the  faith  of  the  Christian  world  to-day,  and 
thus  prepare  the  way  for  a  great  advance 
throughout  the  world  ;  if,  in  short,  we  would 
make  the  twentieth  century  the  missionary 
century  of  the  world's  history,  we  should  keep 
constantly  in  view  the  Saviour's  great  commis- 
sion to  make  him  knovvn  to  all  the  nations,  and 
also  constantly  call  attention  to  the  tokens  of 
his  presence  in  the  world's  great  missionary 
fields  of  the  present  day.  There  certainly 
seems  to  be  grave  reason  to  fear  that  many  of 


MISSIONARY    POSSIBILITIES.  47 

the  best  friends  of  missions,  including  not  a 
few  leaders,  are  too  easily  satisfied  with  any 
measure  of  success,  so  long  as  it  falls  short  of 
actual  failure.  For  instance,  one  of  the  latest 
estimates  of  the  results  of  the  past  century  of 
missionary  labor  places  the  total  number  of 
communicants  at  900,000,  and  adds  the  expres- 
sion of  a  hope  that  the  increase  will  ere  long 
reach  50,000  a  year.  Taken  by  itself,  this 
looks  like  success  ;  but  when  we  think  of  all 
Christendom  being  represented  in  this  effort 
the  result  appears  extremely  meager,  and  it  is 
not  strange  that  many  who  are  familiar  with  the 
glowing  promises  of  God  feel  almost  disheart- 
ened by  such  an  outlook.  But  no  one  need 
feel  disheartened.  The  results  are  better  than 
they  seem,  while  the  possibilities  of  achieving 
greater  results  are  within  easy  reach. 

THE    HOME    SITUATION. 

In  taking  a  survey  of  these  possibilities  it 
may  be  best  to  begin  at  home.  The  initial 
step  in  the  great  undertaking  is  that  of  select- 
ing and  sending  f^rth  messengers  of  Christ  to 
nations  and  peoples  who  do  not  know  him  ;  and 
it  is  just  here  that  the  enterprise  often  seem.s 
the  weakest.  The  volunteers  for  service  are 
increasing,  but  a  large  majority  of  those  who 
offer  are,  for  various  reasons,  found  disqualified. 


48  MISSIONARY    POSSIBILITIES. 

The  contributions  of  the  Churches  are  at  best 
extremely  moderate,  and  bear  no  proportion 
to  the  gigantic  work  which  has  been  taken  in 
hand.  The  cost  of  the  work  does  not  diminisli 
with  success,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  increases 
materially,  and  to  many  careful  observers  it 
begins  to  appear  as  if  a  deadlock  had  been 
reached  and  further  progress  rendered  impos- 
sible. As  a  matter  of  fact,  most  of  the  great 
missionary  societies  of  the  world  are  able  to  do 
little  more  than  hold  their  own.  A  majority 
of  them  are  in  debt,  and  but  few  signs  of 
elasticity  can  be  found  in  their  finances. 
Under  these  circumstances  it  may  seem  un- 
timely to  try  to  show  that  greater  things 
should  be  attempted  ;  but  it  is  for  this  very 
reason  that  I  venture  to  begin  at  this  point. 
If  we  consent  to  accept  the  present  financial 
status  of  the  leading  societies  as  normal,  if  we 
abandon  the  hope  of  brighter  days  and  of 
greatly  enlarged  resources,  we  may  as  well  con- 
fess our  failure  and  abandon  all  further  thought 
of  making  Christ  known  to  all  the  human  race. 
But  such  a  thought  cannot  be  entertained  for 
a  single  moment.  So  far  from  the  resources 
of  the  Churches  having  been  exhausted,  they 
h.ive  hardly  been  touched.  The  methods  em- 
ployed in  the  past  may  have  been  found  insuf- 
ficient ;    the   policy  pursued   may  have    been 


MISSIONARY   POSSIBILITIES.  49 

unsound  in  some  particulars;  but  the  ability 
of  the  evangelical  Churches  not  only  to  main- 
tain the  work  as  it  is,  but  to  double  it,  or  even 
to  increase  it  tenfold,  can  hardly  be  questioned. 
In  trying  to  form  an  estimate  of  the  financial 
possibilities  of  the  missionary  situation  as  it  is 
at  the  present  day  it  is  useless  to  take  into 
consideration  the  mere  ability  of  the  present 
generation  of  Christians.  If  the  question  were 
one  of  ability  only  the  problem  would  be 
solved  in  a  second.  The  Christians  of  America 
alone  are  abundantly  able  to  maintain  enough 
missionary  agencies  of  various  kinds  to  com- 
plete the  evangelization  of  the  world  before 
the  close  of  the  next  century ;  but  the  practi- 
cal question  before  us  is  not  one  of  ability 
merely,  but  of  willingness  to  give  and  of  the 
best  means  to  adopt  in  gathering  up  the  offer- 
ings of  God's  people.  It  has  been  demon- 
strated over  and  over  again  that  a  tax  so  light 
as  to  be  almost  nominal  laid  upon  all  the  evan- 
gelical Christians  in  the  United  States  would 
not  only  suffice  to  maintain  all  the  missionary 
work  now  in  existence,  but  increase  it  two,  ten, 
or  even  twentyfold.  It  would  be  easy  to  se- 
lect ten  professing  Christians  in  the  United 
States  on  whose  productive  property  a  tax  of 
one  per  cent  would  yield  enough  revenue  to 
double  all  the  American  missions  in  the  world 


50  MISSIONARY    POSSIBILITIES. 

and  carry  them  forward  in  a  stale  of  high  effi- 
ciency. But  statements  of  this  kind,  while 
very  suggestive,  do  not  practicahy  help  us  in 
the  present  discussion.  The  missionary  cause 
has  never  become  debtor  to  any  serious  extent 
to  men  of  colossal  fortunes.  It  has  from  the 
first  been  chiefly  dependent  upon  the  masses, 
including  the  poor  and  persons  of  very  moder- 
ate means,  and  it  is  to  the  masses  that  we 
must  now  turn. 

A   STARTLING   ILLUSTRATION. 

If  we  take  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
with  which  we  chance  to  be  most  familiar,  as 
an  illustration,  we  find  a  people  who  profess  to 
believe  in  the  missionary  enterprise,  whose 
missionary  enthusiasm  is  easily  stirred,  and  yet 
whose  average  annual  contributions  for  each 
member  do  not  exceed  fifty  cents  per  year. 
Such  a  discovery  is  more  than  disheartening, 
it  is  positively  alarming.  When  we  remember 
that  many  give  most  liberally,  and  that  at  the 
public  collections  but  few  donors  give  so  little 
as  fifty  cents,  the  inference  is  unavoidable  that 
the  majority  give  absolutely  nothing.  It  may 
be  said,  no  doubt,  that  in  many  families  there 
is  only  one  purse-holder  ;  but  this  ought  not 
seriously  to  affect  the  average.  What,  then,  is 
wrong?     Where  is   the  blame  to  be  placed  ? 


1 


MISSIONARY    POSSIBILITIES.  5  I 

And  when  the  actual  is  so  humiliating  what 
can  be  said  for  the  possible  ? 

For  one,  I  cannot  for  a  moment  believe  that 
there  is  no  relief  to  the  present  strain.  I  have 
mingled  with  our  people  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Pacific,  and  have  never  found  a  congrega- 
tion indifferent  to  the  missionary  enterprise. 
No  other  appeal  so  readily  kindles  the  en- 
thusiasm of  the  people,  and  no  other  meets 
with  a  more  liberal  response  in  the  shape  of 
freewill  offerings.  Perhaps  more  prayers  as- 
cend for  the  missionaries  than  for  any  other 
body  of  Christians  in  the  world.  The  people 
are  not  indifferent.  They  are  abundantly  able 
to  give  twice  as  much  as  is  now  given,  and  a 
proposal  to  double  the  missionary  working 
force  of  the  Church  would  meet  with  an  enthu- 
siastic response.  But  enthusiasm  alone  can  do 
very  little.  It  can  neither  devise  nor  execute. 
It  may  even  become  a  source  of  weakness  if 
depended  on  too  implicitly.  Fifty  years  ago 
the  plan  was  adopted  by  our  missionary  lead- 
ers of  putting  forth  special  efforts  on  a  special 
occasion,  once  a  year,  in  each  leading  church, 
and  this  plan  is  followed  to  the  present  day. 
Some  of  the  meetings  are  very  notable,  and 
sometimes  the  collections  are  princely,  but  in 
the  long  run  this  policy  must  fail.  It  has  all 
the  defects  of  spasmodic  effort ;  it  often  creates 


52  MISSIONARY    POSSIBILITIES. 

a  hurtful  reaction ;  it  accustoms  the  people  to 
the  notion  that  they  cannot  do  their  duty 
unless  acting  under  the  spur  of  a  special  stimu- 
lus ;  and  it  fosters  the  idea  that  the  missionary 
cause  is  dependent  on  the  leading  churches 
and  the  more  wealthy  classes.  The  right 
policy,  the  only  policy  which  can  permanently 
succeed,  must  be  one  that  enlists  all  the  people 
in  support  of  the  cause. 

A   PRACTICABLE   PLAN. 

For  the  sake  of  continuing  an  illustration 
with  which  we  chance  to  be  familiar,  let  us 
look  further  at  the  present  missionary  situation 
in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  The 
membership,  including  probationers,  amounts 
to  2,680,000,  but  for  the  sake  of  easy  computa- 
tion let  us  put  it  at  2,500,000.  Next  let 
one  half  of  these  be  deducted  as  nongivers, 
such  as  the  very  poor,  young  children,  and 
those  members  of  families  in  which  the  bad 
practice  prevails  of  having  one  member  give 
for  all.  We  have  still  left  a  mighty  army, 
1,250,000  strong.  Let  us  now  divide  these 
persons  into  eight  classes,  arranged  as  follows : 
First,  let  us  set  apart  500,000  who  can  give,  at 
the  least,  a  nickel  every  month.  The  aggre- 
gate gift  of  this  class  will  be  $300,000.  Next, 
let  us  take  500,000  more  who  may  be  expected 


MISSIONARY    POSSIBILITIES.  53 

to  give  ten  cents  each  every  month,  and  we 
are  surprised  to  find  their  aggregate  contribu- 
tion footing  up  no  less  than  $600,000.  In  tiie 
third  class  let  us  include  those  who  can  easil)' 
and  freely  give  twenty-five  cents  a  month,  or 
three  dollars  a  year,  and  let  us  include  in  this 
class  150,000  persons.  Their  aggregate  offering 
will  amount  to  $450,000.  In  the  fourth  class  let 
us  put  75,000  persons,  and  estimate  their  contri- 
butions at  fifty  cents  a  month,  or  six  dollars  a 
year.  The  total  amounts  to  $450,000.  In  the 
fifth  class  we  put  on]}'  15,000  persons,  and 
assign  them  one  dollar  a  month,  or  a  total  of 
$180,000.  The  next  class  is  a  very  small  one, 
only  5,000  persons,  giving  two  dollars  and  fifty 
cents  each,  but  making  an  aggregate  of 
$150,000.  The  remaining  5,000  are  divided 
into  two  classes  of  2,500  each,  giving  respect- 
ively five  and  ten  dollars  each,  and  making  an 
aggregate  of  $450,000.  We  have  thus  the  fol- 
lowing result : 

500,000  at  $0.05  each  monthly $300,000 

500,000  at       .10  each  monthly 600,000 

150,000  at       .25  each  monthly 450,000 

75,000  at       .50  each  montlily 450,000 

15,000  at     1. 00  each  monthly iSo.ooo 

5,000  at     2.50  each  monthly 150,000 

2,500  at     5.00  each  monthly 150,000 

2,500  at  10.00  each  monthly 300,000 

1,250,000  $2,580,000 


54  MISSIONARY    POSSIBILITIES. 

These  estimates  are  extremely  low,  and  are 
only  made  after  one  half  of  the  entire  member- 
ship has  been  set  aside  as  nongivers;  but  it 
becomes  evident  at  a  glance  that  if  such  a  scale 
of  giving  could  be  adopted  it  would  double 
the  missionary  income  of  the  Church  at  a 
stroke,  and  open  the  eyes  of  the  Christian 
world  to  possibilities  of  which  very  few  per- 
sons have  ever  dreamed.  But  can  such  an 
estimate  ever  be  realized  ?  Has  it  any  prac- 
tical value?  Is  there  any  reasonable  prospect, 
for  instance,  that  the  small  sum  of  five  cents  a 
month  can  ever  be  collected  from  a  vast  multi- 
tude of  five  hundred  thousand  persons  scat- 
tered all  over  the  country  ? 

This  exact  plan  may  not  be  found  the  best 
in  all  its  details,  but  I  am  persuaded  that  we 
shall  never  see  a  healthy  state  of  missionary 
finance  until  a  determined  and  persistent  effort 
is  made  to  enlist  the  masses  of  the  people  in 
support  of  the  cause,  and  to  collect  their  offer- 
ings. It  is  a  well-known  maxim  that  taxes 
v.ill  not  collect  themselves,  and  the  same  is 
true  of  benevolent  contributions.  The  average 
donor  will  not  take  the  trouble  to  walk  round 
the  corner  with  his  offering,  but  will  pay  it 
cheerfully  enough  if  called  upon  at  home. 
Just  at  this  point  we  discover  the  great  need 
of  the  hour.     It  is  not  givers  so  much  as  col- 


MISSIONARY    POSSIBILITIES.  55 

lectors,  men  and  women,  and  boys  and  girls, 
who  will  undertake  the  simple  task  of  gather- 
ing up  once  a  month  the  stated  offerings  of  a 
given  number  of  donors.  In  every  church  let 
such  a  staff  of  collectors  be  selected,  and  not 
only  organized  but  drilled  for  the  service,  and 
the  work  will  be  done.  The  present  plan  of 
assigning  the  duty  to  overworked  or  possibly 
indifferent  pastors,  or  to  perfunctory  commit- 
tees appointed  with  the  tacit  understanding 
that  no  work  shall  be  exacted  from  them,  can 
never  prove  successful.  It  has  been  found  a 
mistake  to  try  to  lay  this  responsibility  upon 
the  pastors  as  a  merely  incidental  part  of  their 
many  duties.  The  whole  machinery  should 
be  constructed  anew  and  the  responsibility 
placed  in  the  hands  of  persons  who  believe  in 
the  missionary  enterprise  and  who  feel  person- 
ally called  to  support  it.  All  this  may  require 
a  little  time,  but  three  or  four  years  ought  to 
suffice  to  accomplish  it. 

DEMAND   FOR   WORKERS. 

In  the  next  place,  let  us  consider  the  demand 
for  additional  workers.  It  can  no  longer  be 
said,  at  least  in  an  absolute  sense,  that  the 
laborers  are  few  ;  but  comparatively  they  are 
still  very  few  indeed.  In  the  early  days  of  the 
missionary  movement  it  was  thought  necessary 


56  MISSIONARY    POSSIBILITIES. 

to  send  out  a  man  and  wife  for  almost  every 
non-Christian  neighborhood ;  but  that  poHcy 
has  been  in  a  Lirge  measure  given  up,  and  now, 
in  most  of  our  great  fields,  the  missionaries 
would  be  more  than  thankful  if  they  could  get 
one  foreign  missionary  for  each  half  million  of 
the  people.  But  to  muster  even  this  slender 
force  would  require  a  very  large  reinforcement 
from  the  home  field,  so  large,  indeed,  that  to 
many  it  will  seem  almost  useless  to  discuss  the 
question.  But  if  the  means  can  be  found  for  a 
great  forward  movement  in  the  foreign  field  it 
is  certain  that  men  and  women  can  be  found 
for  every  vacant  place.  They  may  not  be 
found  in  a  day,  or,  if  found,  may  not  be  pre- 
pared to  go  abroad  on  a  day's  notice  ;  but  they 
can  be  enlisted  and  placed  under  drill,  and  can 
be  sent  to  the  front  when  fully  prepared.  The 
difficulty  which  has  usually  been  experienced 
in  finding  young  missionaries  has  been  chiefly 
owing  to  the  haphazard  policy  which  has  been 
pursued  of  picking  up  young  men  at  short 
notice  and  hurrying  them  to  the  front  without 
sufficient  preparation.  A  systematic  enlist- 
ment of  young  men  and  women,  with  a  course 
of  training  suited  to  the  wants  of  each  candi- 
date, would  not  only  provide  all  the  workers 
needed,  but  would  greatly  reduce  the  proba- 
bilities of  failure  after  reachine  the  field. 


MISSIONARY   POSSIBILITIES.  5/ 

THE  world's  gates  OPENING.      ^ 

Turning  now  to  the  foreign  field,  we  reach 
the  point  of  chief  interest  in  the  minds  of  most 
persons  who  are  studying  the  question  of  mis- 
sionary possibilities.  First  of  all,  let  me  call 
your  attention  to  the  remarkable  manner  in 
which  obstacles  have  been  removed  out  of  the 
way  during  recent  years.  Comparatively  few 
persons  seem  to  be  aware  that,  until  very  recent 
years,  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  world  was 
inaccessible  to  the  Christian  missionary.  A 
century  and  a  half  ago  there  was  not  a  spot  on 
the  great  continent  of  Asia  on  which  a  Protes- 
tant Christian  could  set  his  foot  without  the 
consent  of  rulers  nearly  every  one  of  whom  was 
hostile  to  missionary  effort  in  every  form. 
Fifty  years  ago  two  thirds  of  Europe  was  closed 
against  the  evangelical  missionary,  while  vast 
portions  of  the  world  were  so  little  known  that 
no  attempt  had  ever  been  made  to  penetrate 
their  depths  in  search  of  any  possible  people 
who  might  be  ready  for  the  missionary.  But 
during  the  present  generation  the  doors  of  the 
nations  have  been  opening  to  us  in  a  wonderful 
way.  During  the  comparatively  short  period 
which  has  elapsed  since  I  became  a  missionary 
obstacles  of  various  kinds  have  been  taken  out 
of  the  way,  until  now  I  can  look  abroad  and  see 


58  MISSIONARY    POSSIBILITIES. 

a  way  of  easy  access  to  seven  hundred  millions 
of  the  human  race,  all  of  whom  would  have 
been  beyond  my  reach  had  I  desired  to  go  to 
them  in  the  days  of  my  youth.  And  this  proc- 
ess-is still  going  on.  High  walls  are  falling 
into  ruins  at  the  quiet  approach  of  Christ's 
messengers  ;  remote  regions  are  coming  nearer; 
hostile  people  are  becoming  friendly;  prejudices 
are  melting  away,  and  thus  the  opportunities 
set  before  us  make  it  possible  to  accomplish 
things  which  would  have  been  considered 
w  holly  impossible  even  as  late  as  the  middle 
of  the  present  century. 

A  still  more  important  advantage  is  found  in 
the  more  ready  access  which  the  missionary 
has  gained  to  the  hearts  and  minds  of  the 
people.  For  many  years  after  southern  and 
eastern  Asia  had  been  thrown  open  to  the 
missionary  the  people  seemed  strangely  inac- 
cessible. In  China  able  men  toiled  for  ten, 
fifteen,  and  in  some  cases  twenty  years  with- 
out gathering  any  tangible  fruit  or  seeing  any 
tokens  of  future  success.  More  than  fifty  years 
after  William  Carey  had  landed  in  India  the 
Protestant  converts  were  very  few  in  number, 
and  conversion  to  Christianity  was  dreaded  by 
all  classes  quite  as  much  as  the  leprosy.  The 
missionary  was  among  the  people,  and  yet  he 
seemed  separated  from  them  by  an  impassable 


MISSIONARY    POSSIBILITIES.  59 

gulf.  There  seemed  to  be  no  possibility  of 
wide  success  under  such  conditions,  and  these 
conditions  seemed  to  be  beyond  the  possibility 
of  change.  But  to-day  we  see  a  whole  world 
of  new  possibilities.  Only  a  few  years  ago  the 
favorite  objection  to  Indian  missions  was  that 
converts  could  not  be  made ;  to-day  the  cry  is 
that  the  converts  are  coming  in  such  numbers 
that  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case  most  of  the 
alleged  conversions  must  be  spurious.  In  both 
India  and  China  the  missionary  has  won  a 
position  where  he  is  in  touch  with  multitudes 
of  the  people.  Pic  may  not  be  in  touch  with 
all  classes,  but  it  can  no  longer  be  said  that  all 
classes,  high  and  low  alike,  hold  aloof  from 
him  in  his  character  as  a  religious  teacher. 
More  men  and  women  in  China  can  be  reached 
and  vv'on  in  a  single  day  than  were  formerly 
secured  in  a  decade.  More  persons  in  India 
are  asking  for  Christian  teachers  and  preachers 
to-day  than  were  formerly  brought  into  the 
Christian  fold  in  half  a  century.  Even  in  the 
depths  of  Africa  the  same  religious  phenomenon 
may  be  observed.  Whole  tribes  and  nations 
of  what  were  rude  savages  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury ago  have  been  brought  under  Christian 
influences  and  are  eagerly  entering  upon  the 
pathway  of  Christian  progress.  These  changes 
iii  the  attitude  of  non-Christian  peoples  are  so 


60  MISSIONARY    POSSIBILITIES. 

many  and  so  widely  extended  that  they  can 
neither  be  overlooked  nor  misunderstood. 
They  indicate  changed  and  changing  con- 
ditions, and,  as  far  as  missionary  possibilities 
are  concerned,  amount  almost  to  a  complete 
revolution. 

BETTER  PLANS  COMING  INTO  FAVOR. 

Another  feature  of  the  present  outlook  which 
is  full  of  encouragement  is  seen  in  the  charac- 
ter of  the  plans  which  many  missionaries  are 
learning  to  adopt.  In  spiritual  warfare,  as  in 
the  strife  of  armies,  very  much  depends  on  the 
plan  of  campaign  which  is  adopted.  If  no 
plan  is  formed,  if  no  systematic  method  is 
pursued,  if  the  efforts  put  forth  are  desultory 
and  disconnected,  and  if  the  field  of  operations 
is  contracted  almost  to  the  verge  of  absolute 
insignificance,  no  great  result  can  be  expected, 
and  success  on  a  wide  scale  cannot  be  hoped 
for.  In  the  past  very  much  of  the  missionary 
work  of  the  world  has  been  weak  in  this  re- 
spect. A  band  of  missionaries  settle  down  at 
some  point  and  begin  to  work  on  a  very  con- 
tracted scale,  hoping  at  the  very  utmost  to  win  a 
few  hundred  converts,  organize  a  few  churches, 
as  nearly  as  possible  on  the  home  model,  and 
thank  God  for  whatever  measure  of  success 
they  meet.     The)-  plan  for  little,  expect  little 


MISSIONARY    POSSIBILITIES.  6 1 

and  receive  little.  Such  men  arc  often  the 
best  of  good  men  ;  but  it  is  not  by  such  plans 
that  kingdoms  arc  to  be  subdued  and  empires 
founded.  The  task  to  be  accomplished  is  one 
of  gigantic  proportions,  and  plans  should  be 
formed  for  a  campaign  worthy  of  the  enterprise 
in  hand.  This  fact  is  beginning  to  be  realized. 
In  various  parts  of  the  world  the  spectacle  can 
be  witnessed  of  missionary  organizations  which 
extend  their  operations  over  a  nation,  a  king- 
dom, or  an  empire.  These  organizations  may 
be  only  in  outline  now,  but  provision  is  made 
for  filling  in  all  vacant  places  as  the  years  go 
by,  and  thus  extending  the  line  until  every 
non-Christian  agency  is  confronted  by  an  ac- 
tive Christian  force,  working  with  all  the  ad- 
vantages which  careful  organization,  experi- 
enced leadership,  and  quenchless  zeal  can  give. 
Take  India,  for  example,  with  its  nearly  three 
hundred  million  people.  It  seems  at  first 
glance  a  hopeless  task  to  attempt  the  conver- 
sion of  such  a  multitude;  but  when  we  meet 
Christian  young  men  and  women  who  expect 
to  live  till  they  form  part  of  a  militant  host  of 
a  hundred  thousand  Christian  soldiers  all  en- 
listed in  India,  and  all  eagerly  pressing  for- 
ward with  the  instinct  of  victory  in  their 
hearts  to  achieve  the  spiritual  conquest  of  an 
empire,  their  enterprise  ceases  to  seem  imprac- 
5 


62  MISSIONARY    POSSIBILITIES. 

ticable,  and  their  campaign  at  once  attracts 
attention  as  one  of  the  grandest  attempts  ever 
made  by  a  Christian  people  to  overthrow  evil 
and  establish  good. 

The  mention  of  one  hundred  thousand  pos- 
sible Christian  workers,  enlisted,  organized, 
and  engaged  in  actual  service  in  India  or 
China,  calls  our  attention  to  the  fact  that 
God  is  teaching  the  present  generation  of 
Christians  some  important  lessons  in  regard  to 
work  and  workers  in  the  Master's  vineyard. 
The  Church  is  rapidly  outgrowing  the  old-time 
notion  that  a  few  men  constituting  an  order 
called  "  the  ministry  "  hold  a  virtual  monopoly 
in  the  Christian  labor  market.  One  of  the 
most  striking  developments  of  the  present  day 
is  the  extraordinary  manner  in  which  men  and 
women  of  all  ages  and  all  ranks  are  coming  for- 
ward to  take  up  Christian  work  in  various 
forms,  both  old  and  new.  In  this  respect  most 
mission  fields  are  in  advance  of  the  home  fields. 
Women  are  frequently  employed,  and  in  large 
numbers.  Men  of  half  a  dozen  different 
grades  are  sent  out  to  preach,  and  scores  of 
unclassified  men,  some  of  them  but  recent 
converts  who  cannot  read  a  line,  are  success- 
fully at  work  persuading  their  kinsmen  and 
neighbors  to  abandon  dumb  idols  and  turn  to 
the   living   God.     If  we  attempt  to  Hmit  the 


MISSIOXARY    rOSSIBILITIES.  63 

work  in  India  or  China  by  the  conventional 
notions  which  prevail  in  America  it  may,  no 
doubt,  be  very  long  indeed  before  the  spectacle 
of  one  hundred  thousand  workers  is  witnessed 
in  India;  but  neither  in  India  nor  America  is 
the  old  notion  going  to  prevail.  The  Teacher 
who  delivered  the  great  sermon  at  Jacob's 
well  saw  not  only  the  Samaritans  of  Sychar 
around  him,  but  no  doubt  looked  down  the 
ages  and  saw  the  times  in  which  we  live  ;  and 
to  us  as  well  as  to  his  first  disciples  was  the 
exhortation  addressed  to  pray  the  Lord  of  the 
harvest  to  send  forth  laborers  into  the  whiten- 
ing harvest  fields.  The  prayers  of  millions  are 
ascending,  and  God  is  answering  by  raising  up 
men  and  women  for  the  mighty  task  set  before 
his  people.  Only  three  months  ago  one  of  our 
Annual  Conferences  in  India  resolved  to  put 
one  hundred  and  fifty  young  men  into  school, 
with  a  view  to  training  them  for  their  work  as 
Christian  workers.  Their  course  of  study  will 
extend  over  only  two  years,  but  this  will  suf- 
fice for  the  kind  of  work  which  they  will  be 
expected  to  do.  There  seems  to  be  no  diffi- 
culty in  finding  the  men,  and  the  wives  of 
many  of  them  will  study  with  their  husbands. 
Here  in  the  United  States  you  can  hardly  re- 
alize what  this  means.  You  can  hardly  con- 
ceive, for  instance,  what  it  would  mean  if  an 


64  MISSIONARY    POSSIBILITIES. 

Annual  Conference  in  the  State  of  New  York 
were  to  determine  to  select  one  hundred  and 
fifty  young  men  and  set  them  apart  for  a 
course  of  theological  study  extending  over  two 
years,  with  the  expectation  of  having  the  men 
collected  and  the  work  in  actual  progress 
within  two  or  three  months.  But  in  the  great 
mission  fields  of  the  world  the  conditions  are 
such  that  urgency  becomes  imperative.  If  the 
millions  are  to  be  reached  workers  must  liter- 
ally be  thrust  out  among  them.  If  not  highly 
educated  they  will  yet  be  far  in  advance  of 
those  to  whom  they  go.  They  cannot  learn 
very  much  in  two  years,  but  the  most  of  them 
can  lay  the  foundation  of  an  education  which 
will  command  respect  in  village  communities 
and  fit  them  for  lives  of  usefulness  in  their 
Master's  service. 

POWER   OF   A   CHRISTIAN   T^IINORITY. 

But  the  thought  will  probably  occur  to  you 
that,  after  all,  one  hundred  thousand  men  and 
women,  even  if  gifted  and  devoted  in  the 
highest  sense,  will  be  almost  lost  to  the  sight 
among  the  millions  of  such  a  country  as  India, 
and  thus  the  problem  of  ultimate  success  will 
remain  almost  as  far  from  solution  as  ever.  I 
trust,  however,  that  no  one  will  make  so  great 
a  mistake  as  to  forsret  that  one  true  Christian 


MISSIONARY    rOSSIBILITIES.  65 

counts  for  as  much  as  a  hundred  persons  of 
any  other  faith.  A  tiny  httle  lamp  is  more 
than  a  match  for  a  large  room  full  of  darkness. 
The  Christians  in  nearly  all  communities  are 
in  a  minority,  and  yet  in  most  matters  they 
give  tone  and  character  to  the  whole  commu- 
nity. Add  to  this  the  consideration  that  in 
the  problem  before  us  the  Christian  workers 
are  organized  and  possess  all  the  advantages 
which  organization  gives,  and  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  ultimate  conversion  of  India  is  by  no 
means  so  improbable  or  so  remote  an  event  as 
it  is  usually  assumed  to  be. 

The  wholly  unexpected  and  extraordinary 
result  of  the  war  between  Japan  and  China 
affords  a  very  instructive  illustration  at  this 
point.  China  was  in  almost  every  respect  the 
stronger  of  the  two  combatants  at  the  outset. 
Her  vast  population,  her  great  armies,  her  ex- 
haustless  resources,  and  the  prestige  which  her 
position  as  the  leading  Asiatic  power  gave  her, 
all  combined  to  make  the  world  believe  that 
Japan  was  entering  upon  a  conflict  in  which 
success  was  impossible  ;  but  events  have  dem- 
onstrated that  success  was  not  only  possible  but 
comparatively  easy.  How  are  we  to  account  for 
the  success  of  Japan  and  the  failure  of  China  ? 
The  Japanese  were  united,  had  a  single  pur- 
pose in  view,  and  above  all  were  organized  for 


66  MISSIONARY    POSSIBILITIES. 

victory.  The  Chinese,  on  the  other  hand, 
had  a  very  imperfect  organization,  had  no 
definite  purpose,  and,  as  a  people,  practically 
took  no  part  in  the  struggle.  Under  such 
conditions  thirty-five  million  Japanese  were 
equal  to  four  hundred  million  Chinese.  In  the 
impending  struggle  between  Christianity  and 
the  non-Christian  faiths  in  India,  and  to  some 
extent  in  all  non-Christian  lands,  very  similar 
conditions  prevail,  and  similar  results  may  be 
anticipated.  A  small  Christian  force  may 
always  be  estimated  as  fully  equal  to  a  very 
large  non-Christian  body,  especially  if  the 
former  is  truly  Christian.  I  have  sometimes 
even  ventured  to  express  the  opinion  that 
when  the  Christians  of  India  amount  to 
a  total  community  of  ten  millions  they  will 
exert  more  influence  and  wield  more  power 
than  the  whole  non-Christian  mass  of  the 
population. 

ESTIMATING   RESULTS. 

Many  good  Christians  doubt  the  wisdom  of 
all  attempts  to  estimate  the  results  of  Christian 
labor.  They  are  willing  to  sow  and  plant  in 
springtime  and  to  estimate  the  amount  to  be 
gathered  in  harvest ;  but  in  the  spiritual  world 
they  shrink  from  the  very  thought  of  calmly 
sitting  down  to  calculate  results  in  this  way. 


MISSIONARY    POSSIBILITIES.  6/ 

To  some  it  seems  too  mechanical,  to  others 
irreverent,  while  to  others  it  probably  appears 
as  too  uncertain  to  be  depended  on.  And  yet 
God  encourages  us  to  expect  success,  and  has 
given  us  a  whole  galaxy  of  promises  to 
strengthen  us  while  we  toil.  Of  all  living  men 
the  missionary  ought  to  feel  most  assured  of 
success.  He  may  be  mistaken  as  to  details, 
but  his  commission  is  given  by  One  who  shall 
never  fail  nor  be  discouraged  till  judgment  is 
set  in  the  earth  ;  and  this  One  is  his  daily  com- 
panion and  his  victorious  leader  evermore. 
Night  may  cease  to  distill  its  dews,  but  the  rich 
dews  of  heavenly  grace  will  never  cease  to  re- 
fresh the  spirit  of  the  Christian  toiler  or  fail  to 
water  the  precious  seed  which  he  scatters  in 
human  hearts.  The  wind  may  cease  to  blow 
where  it  listeth,  but  the  Spirit  of  God  will 
never  cease  to  attend  the  steps  of  the  humblest 
disciple  who  goes  forth  as  a  messenger  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Storm  and  tempest,  hail  and  frost, 
blight  and  mildew  may  defeat  the  plans  and 
mar  the  hopes  of  other  toilers ;  but  all  things 
in  God's  universe,  from  the  starry  systems 
above  us  to  the  minute  events  of  our  daily  lives, 
move  together  in  harmony  with  the  best  possi- 
ble interests  of  every  work  which  we  carry  on 
in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ.  With  these  facts 
before    us,   why   should   we    shrink    from    the 


68  MISSIONARY    POSSIBILHIES. 

thought  of  using  our  confidence  as  a  basis  for 
action  ?  Why  sliould  we  hesitate  to  make  use 
of  all  the  elements  of  certainty  Avhich  enter  into 
the  prosecution  of  such  a  work  as  that  which 
the  missionary  prosecutes? 

Many  years  ago  a  friend  in  a  city  in  upper 
India  submitted  for  my  inspection  a  plan  for 
the  erection  of  a  large  manufacturing  establish- 
ment. All  the  details  had  been  carefully  elabo- 
rated, and  the  probable  results  of  the  enter- 
prise were  boldly  tabulated.  In  due  time  a 
company  was  formed,  capital  invested,  build- 
ings erected,  and  work  commenced ;  and  for 
more  than  twenty  years  the  plans  elaborated 
on  paper  have  been  successfully  illustrated  in 
action.  We  are  not  surprised  at  this,  and  no 
one  dreams  that  the  first  promoter  of  the  en- 
terprise did  an  unwise  thing  in  planning  for  the 
future.  About  the  same  time  a  Christian 
worker  went  to  another  city  in  India  to  lay  the 
foundations  of  a  great  Christian  enterprise. 
His  working  capital  consisted  almost  wholly  in 
the  promises  of  God.  He  confidently  expected 
success,  and  began  his  work  as  if  it  were 
already  assured.  His  enterprise  also  proved 
successful,  and  goes  on  apace,  gaining  con- 
stant headway,  to  the  present  day.  These  two 
men  worked  on  similar  principles,  one  in  the 
commercial  world  and  the  other   in  the  spir- 


MISSIONARY    POSSIBILITIES.  6g 

itual.  Did  the  Christian  commit  an  error  in 
assuming-  that  one  of  the  children  of  light 
might  venture  to  be  as  wise  in  his  generation 
as  the  children  of  this  world? 

OUR   OrrORTUNITIES. 

If  now  we  turn  to  the  great  missionary- 
world,  look  at  our  possibilities,  and  form  plans 
accordingly,  we  can  hardly  fail  to  be  impressed 
with  the  conviction  that  no  men  and  women 
since  Pentecost  have  ever  enjoyed  such  oppor- 
tunities as  those  which  God  is  setting  before 
his  people.  Practically  there  is  no  limit  to  the 
vast  field  which  presents  itself  to  our  vision. 
If  we  ask  for  a  region  in  which  people  may  be 
found  who  ask  for  instruction,  not  in  a  general 
sense,  but  definitely,  for  the  purpose  of  becom- 
ing Christians,  we  may  find  a  score  of  such  dis- 
tricts in  India,  a  number  in  China,  and  other 
equally  hopeful  people  in  the  interior  of  Africa. 
If  the  workers  could  be  found  ready  to  receive 
ihem  one  hundred  thousand  candidates  for 
baptism  could  be  enrolled  in  India  alone  before 
the  close  of  the  present  year.  Intelligent  ob- 
servers in  China  assure  me  that  the  outlook  in 
some  parts  of  that  empire  is  rapidly  becoming 
almost  equally  hopeful.  Let  it  be  conceded  that 
these  people  are  very  ignorant,  very  poor,  and 
very  weak  in   moral   character ;    but  the  fact 


70  MISSIONARY    POSSIBILITIES. 

remains  that  they  are  inquiring  the  way  to 
Christianity,  and  that  thousands  of  other  poor 
creatures  of  Hke  cliaracter  have  become  genuine 
Christians.  The  one  conspicuous  fact  which 
confronts  us  is  that  tens  of  thousands  of  peo- 
ple whom  we  call  heathen  wish  to  become 
Christians,  and  are  willing  and  ready  to  receive 
instruction  at  the  hands  of  the  Christian  mis- 
sionary. Putting  aside  all  other  more  distant 
possibilities,  and  considering  only  those  regions 
where  willing  thousands  await  our  coming,  I  do 
not  hesitate  to  sa)-  that  a  forward  movement 
on  the  part  of  all  the  evangelical  Churches  of 
Christendom  might  very  easily  be  made  to 
yield  one  hundred  thousand  adult  converts 
every  year,  or,  in  other  words,  might  be  made 
to  produce  as  much  fruit  in  nine  years  as  all 
the  missions  of  the  world  have  done  in  the 
past  century. 

But  the  possibilities  of  the  situation  do  not 
stop  here ;  they  only  begin  to  unfold  them- 
selves to  our  view.  All  experience  has  taught 
us  that  an  ingathering  of  converts  may  be  ex- 
pected to  prepare  the  way  for  a  still  larger 
number  of  inquirers.  The  presence  of  one 
hundred  thousand  converts  to-day  means  the 
appearance  of  two  hundred  thousand  inquirers 
in  the  near  future ;  and  in  this  way  we  may 
confidently  assume  that  before  many  years  the 


MISSIONARY    POSSIBILITIES.  J I 

great  mission  fields  of  the  v/orld  will  present 
the  spectacle  of  millions  of  men  and  women 
waiting  to  be  received  and  guided  into  the  way 
of  life.  The  millions  are  coming  as  surely  as 
harvest  follows  springtime,  and  we  must  pre- 
pare for  their  coming.  Let  no  one  be  startled 
at  the  thought  or  tempted  to  fear  that  I  am 
yielding  to  a  flight  of  fancy  or  led  away  by  an 
extravagant  enthusiasm.  This  world  is  to  be- 
come a  Christian  world  ;  the  powers  of  hell 
are  to  be  overthrown,  and  our  Sax'iour,  Christ, 
is  to  reign  in  righteousness  over  all  nations. 
But  if  such  a  day  ever  comes,  if  kingdoms  and 
nations  are  to  be  wrested  from  the  grasp  of 
Satan  and  given  to  Christ  as  his  inheritance, 
there  must  come  a  day  when  Christians  shall 
learn  to  speak  of  millions  as  freely  as  they  now 
speak  of  thousands.  At  tlie  present  rate  of 
missionary  progress  a  millennium  would  not 
suffice  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  great  millen- 
nial reign  to  v.hich  we  all  look  forward  v.'ith  such 
ardent  hope.  It  is  a  striking  comment  on  the 
feeble  faith  and  limited  vision  of  present-day 
Christians,  to  note  how  most  of  them  start  as 
if  in  alarm  at  the  mere  mention  of  an  early  in- 
gathering of  millions  of  redeemed  men  and 
women.  Christianity  must  mean  this  or  else 
stand  before  the  world  as  a  gigantic  and  con- 
fessed failure ;   and  as  Christians  we  owe  it  to 


72  MISSIONARY    POSSIBILITIES. 

the  faith  which  we  profess  to  maintain  a  se- 
rene confidence  in  God  and  in  the  great  work 
which  he  is  carrying  on  among  the  nations. 

A  century  hence  there  will  be,  possibly, 
seven  hundred  million,  and  certainly  five  hun- 
dred million,  English-speaking  people  on  the 
globe,  all  subject  to  Christian  law,  maintaining 
Christian  civilization,  and  exhibiting  a  much 
higher  standard  of  morals  than  is  seen  in  either 
England  or  America  to-day.  The  spirit  of 
Christian  law  will  pervade  the  statute  books 
and  courts  of  justice  of  all  nations.  Religious 
liberty  will  have  become  the  unchallenged 
right  of  the  whole  human  race.  Railways  will 
have  penetrated  to  the  most  remote  corners  of 
the  earth.  The  influence  of  the  Protestant 
nations  will  be  paramount  everywhere,  and 
every  other  public  influence,  whether  religious 
or  political,  will  be  on  the  wane.  The  English 
language,  already  a  potent  factor  in  many  mis- 
sion fields,  will  have  become  the  lingua  fra^ica 
of  the  world,  and  will  assist  wonderfully  in  per- 
fecting the  later  stages  of  the  missionary  enter- 
prise. In  such  an  age,  with  a  world  so  revolu- 
tionized, and  with  all  the  terms  of  the  problem 
so  changed,  the  final  conversion  of  all  nations 
will  no  longer  seem  a  far-off  vision  of  a  {q.\n  en- 
thusiasts, and  the  mention  of  a  million  converts 
will  no  longer  startle  timid  or  doubting  Chris- 


MISSIONARY    POSSIBILITIES.  ^ I 

tians.  We  talk  in  hesitating  tones  of  the  pos- 
sibihty  of  seeing  a  milHon  converts  now  ;  but 
those  who  will  fill  our  places  a  century  hence 
will  look  out  upon  a  scene  where  not  a  million 
converts,  but  a  million  workers,  appear. 

I  am  a  firm  believer  in  a  good  time  coming, 
but  do  not  forget  that  many  severe  struggles 
lie  between  us  and  the  good  time  for  which  we 
hope  and  pray.  But  in  the  meantime  let  us 
watch  for  open  doors  and  hasten  to  enter  them 
whenever  found.  It  is  my  firm  conviction  that 
the  mission  fields  of  the  world  afford  the  best  op- 
portunities to  the  average  young  man  or  woman 
to  be  found  anywhere  at  the  present  time. 
The  teacher  who  searches  for  months  to  find 
employment  here  can  find  a  thousund  children 
waiting  for  him  on  the  other  side  of  the  globe. 
The  preacher  who  struggles  to  hold  together  a 
congregation  of  a  few  hundred  here  can  find  a 
hundred  thousand  neglected  souls  in  the  mis- 
sion field.  The  young  writer  who  strives  in 
vain  to  gain  recognition  in  the  periodical 
literature  of  America  may  go  abroad  and 
join  in  an  effort  to  provide  a  literature  for  un- 
born nations.  The  hundreds  upon  hundreds 
of  young  people  who  stand  idle  in  the  world's 
market  place  might  find  employment  for  heart 
and  hand  if  they  could  only  learn  the  secret 
of  becoming  helpers  to  universal  humanity. 


74  MISSIONARY    POSSIBILITIES. 

Illustrations  of  various  kinds  suggest  them- 
selves, but  time  forbids.  Suffice  it  to  say  that 
the  universal  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  needs  to 
ponder  well  at  the  present  day  the  whole 
question  of  missionary  possibilities.  In  many 
cases  a  very  wide  gulf  separates  the  possible 
from  the  actual,  and  in  few  cases  are  the 
startling  possibilities  of  the  hour  appreciated. 
In  these  waning  years  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury all  Christians  should  unite  in  a  supreme 
effort  to  give  an  impetus  to  the  missionary 
enterprise  which  will  be  felt  for  long  years  to 
come,  and  which  will  give  a  distinctive  char- 
acter to  the  next  century.  There  is  little  or 
no  fear  of  our  attempting  too  much,  while 
there  is  a  constant  danger  of  our  contracting 
the  spiritual  paralysis  which  so  often  results 
from  attempting  too  little.  Nowhere  in  the 
missionary  world  do  we  see  any  interest  suffer- 
ing because  too  much  has  been  attempted, 
but  at  a  hundred  points  we  see  painful  em- 
barrassment because  plans  are  too  contracted 
or  support  too  spasmodic  or  insufficient.  An 
enterprise  which  aims  at  the  conversion  of  a 
world  calls  for  broad  statesmanship,  farseeing 
views,  comprehensive  plans,  and  invincible 
faith;  and  all  these  the  God  of  all  grace  will 
bestow  if  his  people  will  obey  the  great  mis- 
sionary commission  which  he  has  given  them. 


WOMAN  IN  THE  MISSION  FIELD. 


WOA1AN  IN  THE  MISSION  FIELD. 

F  an  announcement  had  been  made  that  at 
this  time  and  place  I  would  dehver  a  lecture 
on  woman's  work  in  the  United  States  navy, 
the  pubHc  would  hardly  have  been  more  puz- 
zled to  understand  my  proposed  treatment  of 
the  subject  than  tlic  Christian  public  in  Eng- 
land or  America  w^ould  have  been  if  a  lecture 
had  been  announced  fifty  years  ago  on  the 
subject  which  I  wish  to  present  to  you  this 
afternoon. 

During  the  earlier  years  of  the  missionary 
enterprise  woman  only  appears  incidentally  in 
connection  with  the  work.  Strangely  enough, 
at  the  outset  the  wife  of  the  great  pioneer  of 
the  movement  is  only  mentioned  in  connection 
with  the  fact  that  she  absolutely  declined  to 
go  with  her  husband  to  India,  and  that  the 
good  man's  faith  was  so  sorely  tested  that  he 
had  actually  concluded  to  leave  her  behind 
him,  and  was  on  board  the  vessel,  ready  to  sail 
for  his  distant  field,  before  his  wife  yielded  the 
point  and  consented  to  go  with  him.  There 
certainly  did  not  seem  to  be  much  hope  at  that 
critical  moment  of  woman's  cooperation  in  the 


78         WOMAN    IN    THE    MISSION    FIELD. 

cjreat  work  about  to  be  inauQ:urated.  But  this 
poor  afflicted  woman  was  not  destined  to  be- 
come an  exemplar  of  her  sex  in  subsequent 
years.  On  the  other  hand,  Dr.  Carey  was 
about  to  open  a  door  through  which  hundreds 
and  thousands  of  Christian  women  were  after- 
ward to  enter  and  bear  a  truly  noble  part  in 
the  great  work  to  be  accomplished. 

In  the  very  nature  of  things  it  was  not  pos- 
sible that  a  work  such  as  was  contemplated  when 
the  modern  missionary  enterprise  was  first  pro- 
jected could  be  carried  on  without  more  or  less 
cooperation  from  Christian  women ;  and  yet  it 
is  surprising  that  no  special  attention  was  given 
to  the  subject  for  so  many  years.  No  one 
dreamed  of  the  possibilities  that  were  all  the 
time  in  the  grasp  of  the  willing  hands  of  many 
thousands  of  Christ's  best  disciples.  No  one 
ever  thought,  even  for  a  moment,  of  the  im- 
mense reinforcements  which  were  within  easy 
call,  and  which  might  have  been  sent  out  to 
aid  the  workers  at  the  front,  who  were,  and 
still  are,  always  sorely  pressed  for  help.  This 
is  the  more  strange  because  constant  tokens 
were  given  by  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  of  what 
might  be  accomplished  if  the  cooperation  of 
devoted  Christian  women  could  be  secured, 
especially  in  some  departments  of  the  work 
for  which,  from  the  first,  the  few  women  in  the 


WOMAN    IX    THE    MISSION    FIELD.  79 

field  showed  a  special  aptitude.  Many  of  the 
wives  of  the  missionaries  proved  to  be  women 
specially  gifted  for  the  kind  of  work  which 
they  found,  and  not  a  (cw  of  them  acquitted 
themselves  nobly  in  connection  with  the  work 
which  their  husbands  were  carrying  on.  Now 
and  then  a  devoted  widow,  when  left  alone  in 
her  distant  field,  chose  to  remain  at  her  post 
and  carry  on  the  work  which  her  husband  had 
left  behind  him,  and  it  also  happened  in  a  few 
cases  that  unmarried  ladies  were  sent  out  for 
special  departments  of  the  work ;  but  these 
cases  were  so  exceptional,  and  the  duties 
assigned  to  the  workers  were  so  limited,  that 
we  now  look  back  with  surprise  that  the  lead- 
ers of  those  early  days  were  so  slow  to 
interpret  the  providential  tokens  which  God 
was  so  constantly  giving  them. 

The  excellent  Christian  ladies  who  were  per- 
mitted to  bear  some  slight  part  in  the  mission- 
ary work  during  the  first  half  of  the  century 
had  not  the  opportunities  which  their  sisters 
who  are  now  in  the  field  enjoy ;  and  yet  we 
must  not  depreciate  the  part  which  they  bore 
in  the  great  missionary  enterprise.  They  were 
pioneers.  Like  faithful  watchers  proclaiming 
the  coming  morning,  they  went  abroad  in  an 
age  of  intense  darkness,  at  a  time  when  few  in- 
telligent Christians  in  the  world  comprehended 


80         WOMAN    IN    THE    MISSION   FIELD. 

the  value  of  woman's  work  in  any  sphere,  and 
slowly  and  patiently  did  their  part  in  pointing 
out  a  better  way  and  holding  out  the  promise 
of  a  brighter  day.  The  fullness  of  time  had 
not  come  during  their  lifetime.  We  all  need 
to  comprehend  more  accurately  the  meaning 
of  this  term,  "  the  fullness  of  time."  We  are 
all  too  prone  to  become  impatient  because  we 
cannot  accomplish  at  once  results  which  we 
clearly  see  ought  to  be  accomplished,  forget- 
ting that  a  thing  which  is  abstractly  possible 
may  practically  be  impossible.  The  time  may 
not  be  ripe,  or  the  best  agents  for  accomplish- 
ing the  work  may  not  be  ready,  or  various  im- 
portant interests  may  need  adjustment,  or  any 
one  of  a  dozen  hindrances  may  exist  of  which 
we  know  nothing.  So  far  as  the  present  discus- 
sion is  concerned  it  is  enough  for  us  to  know 
that  the  fullness  of  time  for  woman,  not  only  in 
the  mission  field,  but  in  many  other  spheres 
of  action,  had  not  yet  come. 

woman's  era. 

A  new  era  dawned  upon  the  womanhood  of 
the  world  a  little  more  than  thirty  years  ago. 
Tokens  of  its  coming  had  appeared,  no  doubt, 
much  earlier ;  but  ever}'one  whose  memory 
runs  back  to  that  period  can  remember  how 
limited  the  opportunities  of  womanhood  were 


WOMAN    IN   THE    MISSION   FIELD.         81 

in  every  direction.  The  professions  were 
closed  against  her,  and  beyond  the  use  of  the 
needle  and  domestic  service  the  only  avenue 
of  employment  which  seemed  opened  to  her 
was  that  of  teacliing.  All  at  once  a  hundred 
questions  affecting  her  interests  began  to  be 
raised  ;  demands  for  wider  opportunities,  for  the 
removal  of  needless  and  even  stupid  restrictions 
of  many  kinds,  began  to  be  made  with  an  im- 
portunity which  commanded  attention,  and  a 
steady  movement,  bearing  on  its  surface  not  a 
few  features  which  might  justly  be  included 
under  the  term  emancipation,  set  in,  and  con- 
tinues to  make  headway  to  the  present  day. 
Year  by  year  the  womanhood  of  the  English- 
speaking  world  gained  advantages  of  many 
kinds,  until  it  began  to  seem  as  if  a  steady  ex- 
pansion of  what  might  be  called  woman's  king- 
dom had  not  only  set  in,  but  bade  fair  to  become 
permanent  ;  that  is,  the  movement  which  I 
again  venture  to  call  the  emancipation  of 
woman  from  long  ages  of  unsuspected  bondage 
— domestic,  social,  economic,  and  even  re- 
ligious— continues  to  the  present  day,  and  is 
full  of  hope  for  the  century  soon  to  open. 

Among  the  many  spheres  of  action  which 
have  thus  been  providentially  opened  to  woman 
none,  in  my  opinion,  affords  her  a  better  op- 
portunity, and  none  appeals  more  urgently  to 


82         WOMAN    IN   THE    MISSION    FIELD. 

all  those  excellences  of  character  which  are  • 
peculiar  to  her,  than  that  which  is  found  in 
the  great  mission  field  of  the  world.  In  that 
field  she  has  practically  a  boundless  sphere  of 
action.  She  was  called  to  till  a  ground  which, 
through  all  historic  ages,  had  remained  fallow. 
She  hears  a  voice  appealing  to  her  from  millions 
and  hundreds  of  millions  of  her  own  sex,  who 
in  all  the  centuries  past  have  never  yet  seen  a 
Christian  figure  cross  their  pathway,  and  never 
heard  a  voice,  from  earth  or  sky,  which  carried 
hope  to  their  darkened  hearts.  Not  only  in 
what  has  been  accomplished,  but  still  more  in 
the  demands  of  the  present  hour,  and  in  the 
splendid  opportunities  which  the  coming  years 
are  sure  to  unfold,  may  any  earnest  woman  find 
in  the  mission  field  a  place  in  which  all  her 
best  abilities  may  find  abundant  employment. 
Not  many  years  have  passed  since  the  great 
missionary  movement  under  the  direction  of 
Christian  women  first  became  a  recognized 
factor  in  our  Christian  Churches ;  but  already 
enough  has  been  accomplished  to  prove  that 
those  who  first  took  up  this  peculiar  work 
were  not  mistaken  in  their  convictions. 

woman's   MISSIONARY   SOCIETIES. 

It  would  be  very  interesting  to  pause  here 
and  tell  the  story  of  the  origin  and  progress, 


WOMAN   IN    THE    MISSION    FIELD.  83 

thus  far,  of  the  many  woman's  missionary 
societies  now  at  work  in  the  United  States. 
At  tlie  beginning  many  old-time  friends  of  the 
missionary  cause,  and  man)'  conspicuous  lead- 
ers in  the  various  Churches  of  the  country, 
who  had  no  special  connection  with  missionary 
matters,  looked  on  with  undisguised  astonish- 
ment at  a  movement  which  seemed  so  utterly 
out  of  line  with  all  previous  action  of  the 
Church  from  the  apostles'  da)'  down  to  the 
present  time.  "  What  does  it  mean  ?  "  "  Why 
must  we  have  societies  for  women  ?  "  "  Why 
not  organize  a  boys'  society  ? "  "  Why  not 
have  a  society  for  little  girls  ?  "  "  Why  not 
have  an  old  men's  society?"  "Cannot  the 
missionary  societies  now  in  existence  take  up 
this  work  ? "  "  Do  not  these  new  societies 
portend  mischief  in  the  future?"  These  and 
scores  of  similar  questions  were  asked,  some- 
times in  a  bantering  tone,  but  more  frequently 
in  very  sober  earnest.  The  difficulty  in  the 
case  was  that  the  movement  was  not  under- 
stood. Very  few,  even  of  the  most  intelligent 
Christians,  know  what  it  is  to  keep  a  sharp  out- 
look for  what  our  Saviour  called  the  "  day  of 
visitation  ;"  and  hence  nearly  all  new  move- 
ments in  the  Christian  world  come  with  all  the 
force  of  a  surprise  to  the  multitude.  If  all  the 
Christian  public  had  been  carefully  watching 


84         WOMAN    IN    THE    MISSION    FIELD. 

ihc  missioiuuy  horizon  of  the  world  many 
tcjkcns  of  the  coming  change  would  have  been 
seen  for  a  dozen  }'ears  before  the  first  woman's 
missionary  society  appeared.  In  almost  every 
mission  field  a  demand  for  such  help  as  Chris- 
tian women  can  give  Avas  beginning  to  be  felt. 
New  doors  were  opening  and  new  voices  were 
calling  ;  new  emergencies  were  appearing  upon 
the  horizon.  Meanwhile  the  existing  mission- 
ary societies  were  not  found  adapted  to  the 
changes  of  the  hour.  Their  leaders  could  not 
comprehend  a  situation  v/hich,  in  many  of  its 
features,  was  wholly  new.  It  is  easy  enough 
now  to  see  that  this  and  that  and  the  other 
thing  should  have  been  done,  or  might  have 
been  done,  but  the  practical  matter  of  fact 
which  we  have  to  consider  is  that  none  of 
these  things  were  done.  Men  and  women 
seldom  do  the  best  ideal  thing,  but  in  very 
many  cases  the}'  do  the  best  possible  thing, 
and  in  the  case  before  us  this  appears  to  have 
been  the  course  \\hich  was  follov/ed.  It  would 
have  been  better,  probably,  if  no  Vv^oman's 
society  had  been  organized,  and  that,  instead 
of  a  new  organization,  the  old  societies  had 
been  so  modified  as  to  meet  the  new  demand. 
I  say  it  would  probably  have  been  better,  but 
I  do  not  believe  it  could  possibly  have  been 
done.     The  practical  fact  remains  that  in  the 


WOMAN    IN    THE    MISSION    FIELD.  85 

course  of  a  few  years  every  great  Protestant 
Church  in  England  and  America  found  itself 
provided  with  a  Woman's  Foreign  Missionar)- 
Society,  fully  equipped,  with  an  active  mem- 
bership, a  thorough  organization,  and  an  abun- 
dant zeal  for  the  great  work  v/hich  God  had  set 
before  his  anointed  handmaidens. 

About  a  quarter  of  a  century  has  passed 
since  these  missionary  societies  began  to  be 
organized,  and  it  is  now  time  for  us  to  look  at 
their  work  and  see  what  has  been  accomplished. 
As  I  am  better  acquainted  Avith  India  than 
with  any  other  field  I  shall  confine  my  descrip- 
tion of  the  A\ork  abroad  mainly  to  the  various 
fields  under  my  own  superintendence  in  India 
and  Malaysia.  No  doubt  an  equally  interest- 
ing stor}'  could  be  told  in  reference  to  China, 
Japan,  Mexico,  or  other  fields. 

THE   ZENANA. 

First  of  all,  let  me  speak  of  the  zenana. 
This  is  the  name  of  a  part  of  the  family  dwell- 
ing in  which  the  women  are  kept  in  seclusion. 
It  is  simply  the  women's  cpiarters  in  an  ordi- 
nary house  belonging  to  a  family  of  the  higher 
class.  You  are  probably  aware  that  both  Hin- 
doos and  I\Iohammedans  who  are  able  to  afford 
that  st}'le  of  living  keep  their  wives  and 
daughters  in  absolute  seclusion.     A  little  girl 


86         WOMAN   IN   THE   MISSION   FIELD. 

is  allowed  a  good  deal  of  liberty  until  she  is 
about  seven  or  eight  years  of  age,  when  her 
face  no  longer  is  seen  in  public.  This  style  of 
living,  however,  is  much  more  expensive  than 
the  more  simple  home  life  of  the  lower  classes, 
and  hence  only  a  minority  of  the  people  can 
afford  either  to  supply  the  house  room  or  to 
keep  their  wives  and  daughters  in  idleness.  It 
is  a  very  great  mistake  to  suppose,  as  very 
commonly  is  supposed  in  this  country,  that 
these  women  and  girls  are  unv/illing  captives 
pining  for  liberty.  In  oriental  lands,  even 
more  than  in  western  countries,  fashion  is  om- 
nipotent, and  the  power  of  social  respectability 
is  so  potent  that  almost  any  unveiled  woman 
in  the  East  would  gladly  surrender  her  liberty 
if  she  could  gain  the  social  promotion  which  is 
implied  in  belonging  to  the  zenana.  True 
enough,  the  women  who  are  subject  to  this 
system  are  always  very  glad  to  get  a  glimpse 
of  the  outdoor  world,  but  only  one  in  a  hun- 
dred would  accept  the  life  of  unveiled  women 
if  they  had  the  opportunity.  They  would 
shrink  with  fear  from  such  a  proposal,  as  if  it 
implied  a  surrender  of  moral  character.  Life 
in  these  zenanas  is  not  so  unhappy  as  is  often 
represented,  and  yet  it  must,  in  the  nature  of 
things,  be  a  dwarfed  life,  and  in  many  of  its 
features  it  can  hardly  be  otherwise  than  a  sad  life. 


Woman  in  the  mission  field.       87 

The  first  movement  in  the  direction  of  send- 
ing lady  missionaries  to  India  was  in  the  inter- 
est of  these  zenana  women.  It  was  known 
that  they  had  no  educational  advantages,  that 
they  never  could  hear  the  sound  of  the  Gospel, 
that  no  messenger  of  Christ  could  possibly 
reach  them  in  the  ordinary  course  of  events, 
and  hence  the  thought  occurred  that  if  Chris- 
tian women  Avould  go  to  them  as  teachers  a 
double  purpose  might  be  accomplished.  The 
women  and  girls  might  be  taught  to  read,  and 
in  this  way  get  access  not  only  to  Bible  truths, 
but  in  an  important  sense  to  the  outer  world. 
At  the  same  time  the  Christian  woman  who 
entered  the  zenana  as  a  teacher  would  have 
the  privilege,  through  the  medium  of  conver- 
sation, of  telling  of  Christ  and  his  salvation,  of 
heaven,  of  immortality,  and  of  all  that  is  em- 
braced in  the  term  Christian  hope.  An  appeal 
in  behalf  of  the  millions  of  women  who  are  in- 
mates of  the  zenanas  of  India  met  with  a  ready 
response.  But  God  had  a  much  wider  field 
in  view  than  the  zenana  when  he  moved  his 
handmaidens  to  undertake  this  task.  Divine 
plans  are  seldom  limited  to  a  single  field  of 
action.  The  work  was  commenced  in  good 
faith  among  the  zenana  women,  and  met  with 
immediate  and  marked  success.  A  single 
generation  has  not  yet  been  passed,  and  those 


88         WO.MAX   IN   THE    ^flSSTON   FIELD. 

engaged  in  the  Avork  now  meet  with  both 
Hindoo  and  Mohammedan  competitors  in  con- 
stantly increasing  numbers.  These  competitors 
are  women  who  have  been  educated  by  the 
missionary  ladies  themselves.  Schools  have 
been  organized  and  are  constantly  increasing 
in  number,  and  those  who  do  not  wish  to  em- 
ploy missionaries  find  it  quite  possible  now  to 
get  women  and  girls  of  their  own  religion  to 
take  up  the  work.  Some  missionary  ladies 
feel  a  little  disconcerted  v/hen  they  meet  this 
unexpected  rivalry;  but  I  mention  it  merely 
as  an  evidence  of  their  success.  We  should 
all  rejoice  that  so  recent  a  movement  has 
already  made  such  marked  advances,  that 
those  who  a  few  years  ago  were  utterly  illiter- 
ate are  now  able  to  compete  with  educated 
ladies  who  have  gone  halfway  round  the 
globe  to  carry  on  their  missionary  work. 

QUIET   PROGRESS. 

The  success  of  this  work,  however,  does  not 
end  here.  While  the  zenana  s}-steni  is  not 
abolished  in  a  day,  and  while  some  features  of 
the  work  are  less  than  satisfactory,  yet  in  the 
larger  cities  there  is  undoubtedly  quite  a  steady 
movement  in  the  directi(,m  of  the  social  eman- 
cipation of  woman  in  India.  In  man}-  little 
matters  the  prejudices  of  ages  arc  giving  way. 


V/OMAX    IX   THE    MISSIOX    FIELD.  89 

The  women  and  girls  are  gaining  new  privi- 
leges, by  inches,  it  is  true,  and  yet  they  arc 
gaining.  Those  who  have  longest  experience 
in  the  country  are  not  anxious  to  see  their 
progress  much  more  rapid  than  it  is.  A  few 
cases  of  painful  failure,  resulting  from  a  too 
rapid  change  in  social  conditions,  have  taught 
us  that  all  movements  of  this  kind  must  come, 
like  the  springtime,  after  a  long  and  dreary 
winter.  The  flowers  of  spring  cannot  be  called 
forth  in  an  hour.  There  must  be  days  and 
weeks  of  light  and  warmth  an.d  growth  be- 
fore the  time  of  flowering  and  fruitage  comes 
round.  The  work  commenced  among  the 
zenana  W'omen  in  India  is  advancing  rapidly 
enough. 

I  will  here  mention  a  little  episode  that  oc- 
curred not  long  ago  in  connection  with  our 
woman's  work  in  a  large  city  in  India,  premis- 
ing, however,  that  we  are  obliged  to  be  very 
careful  how  we  make  public  reference  to  such 
incidents.  I  suppose  I  enjoy  the  singular  honor 
of  being  the  first  European  man  who  was  ever 
admitted  to  an  assembly  composed  exclusively 
of  respectable  zenana  women.  The  circum- 
stances were  very  peculiar.  Without  a  single 
exception,  not  one,  in  an  assembly  numbering 
perhaps  one  hundred  and  fifty  women  and  girls, 
and    belonging   to    very  respectable    families, 


90         WOMAN    IX    THE    INIISSION    FIELD. 

had  ever  before  been  admitted  into  the  pres- 
ence of  a  person  of  the  opposite  sex,  except 
in  the  case  of  fathers,  husbands,  or  brothers. 
IMany  of  the  women,  however,  had  become 
somewhat  enlightened  and  viewed  the  matter 
sensibly.  My  age  and  supposed  sanctity  made 
my  case  somewhat  exceptional,  and  I  enjoyed 
the  rare  privilege  of  seeing  this  respectable  as- 
sembly and  spending  some  time  among  them 
without  any  demonstration  of  either  fear  or 
displeasure  on  their  part ;  and  I  have  no  doubt 
that  before  many  years  such  a  privilege  will 
cease  to  be  regarded  as  in  any  way  extraor- 
dinary. 

A   WIDENING   SPHERE. 

I  have  said  that  a  much  wider  sphere  of 
action  awaited  the  first  lady  missionaries  than 
had  been  anticipated  by  either  themselves  or 
those  who  sent  them.  Their  attention  was 
quickly  drawn  to  the  condition  of  women  gen- 
erally, and  especially  to  the  fact  that  female 
education  had  scarcely  yet  been  recognized  at 
all.  When  I  first  went  to  India,  in  1859,  I 
found  our  mission  located  in  a  field  containing 
about  seventeen  million  inhabitants,  and  among 
all  these  millions  I  do  not  suppose  there  were 
seventeen  women  and  girls  who  knew  how  to 
read.  Among  such  a  people  it  was  inevitable 
that  Christian  ladies  from  America  should  feel 


WOMAN   IX   THE   MISSION    FIELD.  9 1 

that  it  was  woe  unto  them  if  they  did  not  try 
to  give  at  least  an  elementary  education  to 
these  utterly  illiterate  women.  I  may  here 
mention  that  education,  like  vital  Christianity, 
is  in  a  measure  contagious.  These  ladies  knew 
very  well  that  they  could  never  teach  all  the 
women  around  them,  but  they  also  knew  that 
if  they  could  establish  schools  and  in  this  way 
get  education  rooted  among  the  women  of  the 
country  it  would  make  headway  almost  of 
itself.  The  presence  of  educated  persons  is 
almost  sure  to  create  a  desire  among  the  un- 
educated for  the  higher  privileges  of  those  who 
are  able  to  read  and  write,  and  who  in  conse- 
quence occupy  a  more  important  social  position 
than  the  ignorant.  In  addition  to  this  general 
demand  for  schools  among  the  people  at  large 
a  more  special  demand  was  found  among  the 
Christian  converts.  At  first  these  converts 
were  few  in  number,  but  as  they  began  to  in- 
crease somewhat  rapidly  it  was  found  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  educate  their  daughters, 
and  hence  many  ladies  who  went  to  India  as 
missionaries  have  never  taken  any  part  in 
what  is  now  popularly  known  as  zenana  work. 
They  have  found  the  demand  for  the  education 
of  the  converts  so  urgent  and  so  constantly 
increasing  that  they  can  give  attention  to 
nothing   else.      Elementary   schools    for   girls 


92         AVOMAX    IX   THE    MISSIOX   FIELD. 

have  been  established  in  literally  hundreds  of 
villages  and  towns,  while  at  central  points 
boarding  schools  of  higher  grade  have  also 
been  established  and  are  increasing  both  in 
numbers  and  efficiency.  I  cannot  in  the 
brief  time  at  my  disposal  give  you  more  than 
an  outline  of  this  work.  Suffice  it  to  say  that 
in  tlie  field  where,  as  I  have  just  said,  we  failed 
to  find  seventeen  women  able  to  read  among 
a  population  of  seventeen  million  persons 
we  have  now  not  only  many  schools  of  a  very 
respectable  grade,  but  have  actually  established 
one  school  at  Lucknow  on  a  college  basis. 
Stranger  still,  so  much  progress  has  been  made, 
and  so  marked  has  been  the  change  of  public 
sentiment  among  both  Hindus  and  Moham- 
medans, that  an  energetic  movement  is  now  on 
foot  in  the  same  city  of  Lucknow  to  establish 
what  might  be  called  a  rival  college,  that  is, 
an  institution  of  college  grade  for  women  and 
girls  in  which  no  Christianity  shall  be  taught. 
This,  again,  I  do  not  regard  as  in  any  measure 
an  unfavorable  symptom.  We  should  rejoice 
rather  that  the  general  cause  is  making  such 
satisfactory  progress,  and  for  my  own  part  I 
sincerely  wish  that  the  people  of  India  could 
and  would  maintain  a  hundred  colleges  for 
women,  even  if  they  should  as  carefully  ex- 
clude every  Christian  missionary  and  minister 


WOM-AX    IX    THE    MISSION    FIELD.  93 

from  such  institutions  as  Stephen  Giraid  did 
from  the  college  which  he  founded  in  Phila- 
delphia. 

FEMALE   EVANGELISTS. 

During  my  long  residence  in  India  I  have 
met  with  many  surprises,  but  perhaps  nothing 
has  been  more  unexpected  than  the  demand 
which  of  late  years  has  arisen  for  evangelistic 
work  among  the  women.  Generations  ago  the 
public  in  England  and  America  were  much  less 
familiar  with  the  idea  of  women  evangelists 
than  they  have  become  since  ;  but  that  which 
at  best  seemed  difficult  or  unusual  in  the  United 
States  would  have  seemed  very  nearly  impos- 
sible if  proposed  at  an  earlier  day  in  India. 
The  demand  for  this  peculiar  kind  of  work  was 
perceived  at  a  comparatively  early  day,  but  the 
peculiar  difficulties  of  the  situation  in  a  coun- 
try like  India  prevented  most  persons  from  an- 
ticipating the  measure  of  success  which  has 
been  achieved  since. 

I  have  already  remarked  that  all  women  in 
India  are  not  kept  in  seclusion.  In  fact,  only  a 
comparatively  small  minority  of  them  belong 
to  the  class  known  as  zenana  women  ;  but,  with 
rare  exceptions,  it  may  be  said  that  all  women, 
even  including  the  majority  of  Christians,  are 
in  many  respects  inaccessible  to  the  ordinary 
Christian  minister.      The    standard    of  public 


94         WOMAN    IX   THE    MISSION    FIELD. 

taste  does  not  admit  of  the  free  interchange  of 
even  ordinary  civihties  between  the  sexes  to 
which  we  are  accustomed  in  the  United  States. 
The  idea  of  women  being  seen  in  a  large  as- 
sembly, seated  in  public  like  men,  and  enjoy- 
ing all  the  privileges  of  the  occasion  with  the 
same  freedom  which  is  accorded  to  their  hus- 
bands and  brothers,  is  utterly  foreign  to  the 
standard  of  taste  which  has  been  recognized 
throughout  the  empire  in  all  past  ages.  This 
accounts  for  the  fact  that  when  missionaries  go 
on  itinerating  tours  they  seldom  see  a  woman  in 
their  audiences.  A  very  few  timid  creatures 
may  be  seen  peering  around  the  corner  of  a 
house  near  by,  or  looking  down  from  some  of 
the  flat  roofs  in  the  vicinity,  but  it  is  very  sel- 
dom indeed  that  even  half  a  dozen  women  can 
be  induced  to  take  their  places  among  the  men 
gathered  under  a  village  tree  or  on  some  va- 
cant spot  beside  one  of  the  village  streets. 

The  difficulty  caused  by  this  timidity  be- 
comes more  embarrassing  when  an  attempt  is 
made  to  correct  any  errors  observed  in  the  do- 
mestic life  of  the  people.  The  ordinary  mis- 
sionary has  few  opportunities  for  observing  life 
as  it  really  is  within  the  sacred  precincts  of  a 
village  home.  No  men  in  the  world  are  more 
jealous  of  their  homes  than  the  simple  peasants 
of  India.     Every  one  of  them  regards  his  mud- 


WOMAN    IX    THE    MISSION    FIELD.  95 

v.alled  hut  as  at  once  his  castle  and  his  temple, 
and,  under  ordinary  rules,  a  strange  man  is  not 
expected  to  cross  its  threshold.  Christianity 
may  ultimately  break  do\vn  these  barriers,  but 
for  a  generation  at  least  it  will  be  impossible 
for  the  missionary  so  completely  to  win  his  way 
beyond  the  doorway  of  the  hut  as  to  be  able 
to  exert  much  practical  influence  among  the 
women  within.  And  even  if  he  were  to  gain 
free  admission  his  defective  knowledge  of  the 
peculiar  notions  and  habits  of  the  women  would 
make  him  at  best  a  very  sorry  teacher.  It 
is  very  different  with  the  lady  missionary  from 
England  or  America  who  masters  the  language 
of  the  people,  and,  having  gained  ready  admit- 
tance to  the  homes  of  the  people,  is  quickly 
able  to  understand  all  their  peculiar  notions 
and  habits,  and  thus  becomes  able  to  correct 
what  is  wrong,  suggest  many  little  reforms,  and 
inspire  the  people  with  better  purposes  and 
brighter  hopes. 

For  some  }'ears  past  it  has  been  abundantly 
clear  to  our  most  faithful  missionaries  that  the 
question  of  employing  women  as  evangelists  in 
India  is  no  longer  one  of  expediency,  but  of 
absolute  necessity.  Thousands  upon  thou- 
sands of  the  wives  and  mothers  of  our  converts 
are  still  so  deplorably  ignorant,  and  so  wedded 
to  many  of  their  former  notions  and  customs, 


g6         WOMAN   IX   THE    MISSION    FIELD. 

that  the  missionary  despairs  of  building  up  a 
healthy  Christian  community  unless  something 
can  be  done  for  them.  I  am  happy  to  be  able 
to  testify  that  very  much  has  been  done.  Many 
of  our  ladies  in  India  have  seen  and  felt  for 
years  the  necessity  for  this  kind  of  work,  and 
have  given  it  their  best  attention.  If  time  per- 
mitted I  might  speak  of  success  achieved  in 
many  different  places,  but  it  will  suffice,  per- 
haps, to  mention  only  one  conspicuous  example 
of  what  can  be  done  by  brave,  earnest,  and 
faithful  labor  of  this  kind. 

AN   ANOINTED   LEADER. 

Miss  Phebe  Rowe,  though  born  and  brought 
up  in  India,  is  well  known  to  many  thousands 
in  the  United  States.  She  paid  a  brief  visit 
to  this  country  some  years  ago,  and  during  her 
stay  made  an  extraordinary  impression  upon 
all  who  came  in  contact  with  her.  With  an 
unusual  command  of  the  Hindustani  language, 
she  is  able  to  reach  all  classes,  using  a  dialect 
which  is  understood  by  the  most  ignorant,  and 
which  yet  does  not  offend  the  most  fastidious 
ears  by  its  remarkable  simplicity.  Miss  Rowe 
seemed  to  be  a  person  of  frail  health,  and  cer- 
tainly without  much  power  of  physical  endur- 
ance ;  but,  seeing  the  increasing  demand  for 
evangelistic  work  among  the  wives  of  our  con- 


WOMAN    IN    THE    MISSION    FIELD.  97 

verts,  she  consented  to  be  set  apart  for  this 
kind  of  labor,  and  in  prosecuting  it  she  has  de- 
veloped not  only  remarkable  ability  for  the 
work,  but  has  also  gained  in  physical  strength, 
so  that  her  endurance  of  fatigue,  and  sometimes 
of  exposure,  during  her  tours  in  the  most  try- 
ing season  of  the  year,  have  become  a  wonder 
to  all  who  knew  her.  Her  chief  mission  is  to 
the  Christians  and  to  the  Christian  women ;  but 
I  must  remark  in  passing  that  she  has  long 
since  found,  what  every  such  worker  must  find, 
that  it  is  utterly  impossible  for  any  woman  to 
confine  her  labors  in  work  of  this  kind  to  one 
sex.  If  she  gains  access  to  the  women,  and  in- 
fluences them  for  good,  she  must  in  the  nature 
of  things  also  influence  their  husbands,  and  it 
has  constantly  happened  that  while  speaking 
to  the  wife  the  husband  and  sons  have  become 
interested  listeners.  Not  only  this  ;  it  is  nearly 
impossible  for  a  lady  with  her  peculiar  gifts  to 
enter  any  village  without  meeting  some  of  the 
most  respectable  men  of  the  place,  and,  as  her 
erraiid  must  always  be  explained,  it  becomes 
inevitable  that  she  will,  more  or  less  informally, 
be  found  preaching  to  them.  Her  singing  is 
listened  to  with  the  most  extreme  delight  by 
all  classes,  and  although  the  excellent  ladies  of 
the  Foreign  Missionary  Society  have  repeatedly 
caused  it  to  be  understood  that  they  wish  only 


98        WOMAN    IN   THE    MISSION    FIELD. 

to  support  work  among  the  women,  Miss  Rowe 
is  constantly  illustrating  how  impossible  it  is 
for  their  directions  to  be  followed.  In  other 
words,  while  trying  to  be  an  evangelist  among 
the  baptized  women  in  the  various  Christian 
communities,  she  has  really  become  a  most 
useful  evangelist  among  all  classes. 

Miss  Rowe  has  associated  with  her  in  this 
work  two  or  three  Hindustani  women,  and  as 
time  passes  will  no  doubt  find  others  with  like 
graces  and  gifts  for  this  same  work.  I  look 
upon  her  as  a  pioneer,  as  the  forerunner  of  a 
mighty  host.  Other  women  will  undoubtedly 
be  raised  up  and  in  the  providence  of  God 
thrust  out  into  this  same  work.  There  are 
peculiar  difficulties  in  connection  with  such 
work,  especially  when  the  evangelists  are  na- 
tives of  India;  but  as  time  passes  our  ladies 
will,  no  doubt,  learn  how  to  overcome  these 
difficulties,  as  they  have  scores  of  other  ob- 
stacles in  times  gone  by. 

There  are  over  one  hundred  and  forty  mil- 
lion women  and  girls  in  India.  The  state- 
ment will  seem  incredible,  but  actually  over 
twenty-two  million  of  these  women  are 
widows.  Many  of  these  widows  are  chil- 
dren of  tender  age,  and  yet,  if  the  rules  of 
Hinduism  are  strictly  enforced,  their  widow- 
hood is  perpetual.    They  are  subjected  to  many 


WOMAN    IN    THE    MISSION    FIELD.  99 

hardships,  and  must  go  through  hfe  beheving 
that  tb.c}'  arc  the  victims  of  misfortune,  that 
their  unhappy  lot  can  never  be  alleviated  in 
the  present  world,  wliile  any  thought  of  a 
better  world  to  come,  if  ever  presented  to  their 
minds  at  all,  can  only  appear  in  dim  and  fading 
oulline.  The  mere  statement  of  these  facts  will 
suffice  to  impress  upon  you  the  vastness  of  the 
mighty  work  which  Christian  women  have 
undertaken  in  India.  I  could,  no  doubt,  if 
time  permitted,  produce  quite  as  strong  a  case 
in  behalf  of  the  women  of  China  and  other 
non-Christian  regions.  The  hope  of  the  woman- 
hood of  the  world  is  bound  up  in  the  progress 
of  Christianity,  and  to  the  Christian  women  of 
England  and  America,  more  than  to  all  other 
living  persons,  is  committed  the  sacred  trust  of 
making  Christianity  accomplish  its  full  divine 
purpose  in  reaching,  enlightening,  elevating, 
and  emancipating  the  hundreds  of  miUions  of 
women  and  girls  who  are  to-day  sitting  in  deep 
mental  and  spiritual  darkness. 

ADMINISTRATIVE   DUTIES. 

I  vvish  now  to  call  your  attention  to  a  feature 
of  woman's  work  in  the  mission  field  which  has 
thus  far  happily  attracted  little  attention.  I 
refer  to  woman  as  administrator  of  missionary, 
or  even  ecclesiastical,  affairs.     I  need  not  say 


100      WOMAN    IN    THE    MISSION    FIELD. 

that  this  subject,  so  far  as  it  affects  the  United 
States,  has  for  some  jears  past  been  a  burning 
question.  It  is  practically  the  same  question 
on  the  other  side  of  the  globe,  but  happily  in 
India  this  burning  question  does  not  burn.  It 
has  been  calmly  dealt  with  from  the  first,  and 
privileges  have  been  conceded  to  our  mission- 
ary ladies  which  would  startle  both  conserva- 
tive and  liberal  men  in  this  country,  if  they 
could  only  perceive  how  freely  the  whole  ques- 
tion has  been  dealt  with  in  the  mission  field. 
Indeed,  I  have  often  doubted  whether  in  India 
itself  many  persons  had  given  serious  thought 
to  the  subject.  When  a  woman  is  sent  abroad 
as  a  missionary,  and  succeeds  in  creating 
Christian  agencies  of  various  kinds  around  her, 
it  follows  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case  that 
she  must  exert  more  or  less  authority  in  direct- 
ing those  who  have  become  subordinate  to  her. 
She  must,  as  I  have  already  shown,  very  often 
be  found  talking  to  mixed  assemblies,  and 
sometimes  to  assemblies  of  men  only;  and  if 
her  talk  is  carefully  analyzed  it  will  be  found 
to  resemble  very  closely  the  kind  of  talk  which 
in  America  is  called  preaching.  Hence  it  is 
that  many  women  who  would  shrink  from  the 
very  thought  of  becoming  preachers  are  prac- 
tically doing  the  work  of  preachers  every  day 
of  their   lives.     They   are   also    found  in  the 


WOMAN    IN   THE    MISSION   FIELD.       lOI 

schoolroom,  and  in  the  course  of  events  often 
become,  not  only  teachers,  but  superintendents 
of  scliools.  Their  agencies  of  various  kinds 
expand  more  and  more,  until  their  jurisdiction 
becomes  in  many  instances  a  very  wide  one. 
Then,  when  the  missionary,  or  missionaries,  in 
charge  of  the  city,  town,  or  district  where  the 
work  of  this  lady  is  carried  on,  chance  to  die, 
or  to  be  sent  out  of  the  country  in  broken 
health,  it  has  repeatedly  happened  that,  in  the 
absence  of  any  male  missionary,  one  of  the 
ladies  has  been  obliged  to  take  charge  of  the 
work. 

In  this  way,  without  intending  it,  without  at 
all  realizing  what  they  are  doing,  Christian 
women  have  over  and  over  again  assumed  the 
responsibilit}'  of  directing  the  ecclesiastical 
affairs,  not  only  of  a  church,  but  of  groups  of 
churches,  and  while  performing  these  duties  as 
a  matter  of  course  they  have  been  obliged  to 
superintend  ordained  ministers.  The  question  is 
sometimes  hotl}'  debated  in  the  United  States 
whether  a  woman  should,  under  any  possible 
circumstances,  be  ordained.  But  while  )-ou 
are  debating  here,  as  a  somewhat  startling 
matter  of  fact,  Christian  women  ha\'e  practi- 
cally assumed  higher  duties  and  successfully 
discharged  them,  not  by  usurping  the  peculiar 
functions  of  ministerial  ordination,  but  by  di- 


102       WOMAN   IN   THE    MISSION    FIELD. 

recting  the  men  who  are  ordained.  This  has 
been  done,  and  is  still  being  done,  without 
creating  any  controversy,  without  exciting  any 
surprise,  without  raising  any  comment  as  to 
the  possible  outcome  of  so  extraordinary  a  pro- 
ceeding; in  other  words,  as  I  have  already 
mentioned,  we  have  learned  how  to  deal  with 
this  burning  question  without  letting  the  ques- 
tion burn. 

To  explain  this  case  more  fully,  I  ought  to 
say  that  among  the  many  ladies  who  have  come 
to  India  are  some  from  Australia  and  a  few 
from  the  United  States,  who  have  been  sent 
out,  not  as  missionaries  to  women  merely,  but 
simply  as  missionaries  to  the  people.  It  was 
probably  expected  by  those  who  first  devised 
this  kind  of  missionary  work  that  the  ladies 
would  carry  on  their  work  chiefly  by  employing 
natives  of  the  country  as  teachers  and  preach- 
ers. This  has  been  done  to  some  extent,  but, 
as  you  will  have  anticipated  from  what  I  have 
already  said,  it  cannot  be  done  very  long.  In 
the  very  nature  of  the  case  ladies  occupying 
such  a  position  must  assume  duties  which  are 
ordinarily  discharged  by  bishops,  presiding 
elders,  or  other  high  functionaries  of  the 
Church.  If  anyone  is  alarmed  by  the  picture 
which  I  am  giving  of  the  manner  in  which 
Christian    ladies    assume    responsibility    when 


WOMAN    IN    THE    MISSION    FIELD.        103 

there  seems  occasion  for  it,  I  may  allay  the 
fears  of  such  by  sa}'iiig  that,  so  far  as  I  know, 
the  missionar}'  ladies  of  the  foreign  field  are 
careful  to  avoid  the  assumption  of  an)-  duties 
which  pertain  to  ordained  ministers,  unless 
there  be  very  exceptional  circumstances  to 
make  it  necessary.  In  one  case  two  American 
ladies  arc  carrying  on  a  successful  work  in  a 
remote  station,  and  have  converts  from  time 
to  time  who  need  baptism  ;  but  instead  of  per- 
forming this  duty  themselves  they  think  it 
more  wise,  or  at  least  expedient,  not  to  force 
the  question  to  an  issue,  even  though  the}'  may 
have  no  doubts  concerning  the  validity  of  such 
baptism,  and  hence  they  have  secured  the  serv- 
ices of  a  Hindustani  ordained  minister,  who 
works  under  their  direction  and  administers 
both  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  when 
occasion  calls  for  it. 

A  NEW  SPHERE. 

Among  the  many  kinds  of  labor  which  the 
mission  field  presents  not  the  least  promising 
in  coming  years  will  be,  I  think,  the  task  of 
providing  a  Christian  literature  for  the  millions 
of  Christians  who  are  to  be  raised  up  in  Asiatic 
and  other  non-Christian  countries.  We  can 
easily  understand  how  comparatively  little 
attention  has  been  given  to  this  subject  in  the 


104      WOMAN    IX    THE    IMTSSION    FIELD. 

past,  but  it  is  every  }'car  becoming  more  impor- 
tant, and  its  demands  more  imperative,  and  in 
all  successful  missions  this  kind  of  work  must 
soon  be  taken  uj^  systematically  and  prosecuted 
with  all  possible  vigor.  It  is  a  significant  fact 
that  the  late  Miss  Tucker,  better  known  in 
England  and  America  as  "  A.  L.  O.  E.,"  the 
title  by  Vv'hich  she  was  first  introduced  to  the 
reading  public,  after  having  achieved  marked 
success  as  a  writer  in  England,  became  so  im- 
pressed with  the  necessity  for  literary  work  in 
India  that  she  went  out  to  that  country  in  ad- 
vanced life  and  devoted  her  latest  and  best 
years  to  the  preparation  of  Christian  books  and 
periodicals  in  the  Hindustani  language.  She 
did  other  work,  it  is  true,  but  this  was  her 
chief  mission,  and  it  proved  eminently  success- 
ful. Although  obliged  to  depend  upon  the 
services  of  a  translator,  slie  became  able  to 
adapt  her  style  and  range  of  thought  to  the 
wants  of  her  readers,  and  it  is  perhaps  not  too 
much  to  say  that  the  comparatively  few  years 
which  she  spent  in  India  were  worth  more,  and 
will  be  found  in  the  end  to  have  produced  more 
lasting  good,  than  all  the  labors  of  her  previous 
life.  She  worked  bravely,  and  finally  died  at 
her  post. 

It  certainly  seems  that  her  example  should 
call  attention,  in  terms  not  to  be  misunderstood 


WOMAN    IX    THE    MISSION    FIELD.        105 

or  neglected,  to  the  urgent  demand  which  is 
making  itself  felt  for  a  Christian  literature  for 
the  coming  millions  of  Christians  in  the  empire 
of  India.  The  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
deserves  mention  for  having  been  among  the 
first  to  perceive  the  importance  of  this  depart- 
ment of  our  work.  Some  years  ago  an  en- 
dowment fund  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars 
was  set  aside  for  the  special  purpose  of  pub- 
lishing a  series  of  Christian  periodicals  specially 
adapted  to  the  wants  of  the  women  of  India. 
A  prominent  thought  in  connection  with  this 
enterprise  was  that  of  making  provision  for  the 
women  in  the  zenanas,  whose  range  of  thought 
is  necessarily  narrow,  and  for  whom  a  special 
effort  of  this  kind  seemed  to  be  needed.  Aided 
by  the  proceeds  of  this  fund,  our  missionaries 
are  now  publishing  monthly  periodicals  for 
women  in  five  different  languages,  and  the  work 
has  long  since  ceased  to  be  an  experiment. 
These  periodicals  have  been  successful  in  a 
marked  degree,  and  every  year  are  gaining  a 
wider  field  and  a  more  marked  success.  It  af- 
fords me  much  pleasure  to  say  that  one  of  the 
last  official  acts  which  I  performed  before  leaving 
India  was  that  of  setting  aside  Miss  Blair,  one 
of  our  deaconesses,  formerly  of  Painesville,  O., 
for  the  exclusive  duty  of  performing  literary 


I06      WOMAN    IX    THE    MISSION    FIELD. 

work  in  connection  with  our  publishing  house 
in  Calcutta;  and  I  hope  to  Hvc  to  set  apart  at 
least  two  such  literary  workers  in  connection 
with  each  of  our  four  publishing  houses  in 
that  great  field.  I  have  no  doubt  whatever  that 
before  many  years  shall  have  passed  it  will  be 
seen  that  one  of  the  most  important  tasks 
which  God  has  in  view  for  the  Christian  women 
who  choose  a  missionary  life  will  be  more  or 
less  directly  in  the  line  of  literary  work. 

MEDICAL   WORK. 

One  of  the  most  notable  achievements  of 
women  in  recent  years  has  been  the  success- 
ful introduction,  not  only  of  medicine,  but  of 
the  medical  profession,  among  the  women  of 
India.  Less  than  a  single  generation  ago 
there  was  not  even  one  lady  physician  among 
all  the  hundreds  of  millions  of  women  in  Asia  ; 
and  when  it  is  remembered  that  in  most  parts 
of  that  great  continent  the  women  of  the  higher 
classes  were  rigidly  secluded,  and  in  conse- 
quence beyond  the  reach  of  ordinary  physicians, 
their  deplorable  condition  can  be  realized 
in  some  degree  at  least.  It  was  a  Christian 
woman.  Miss  Clara  Swain,  M.D.,  a  missionary 
sent  out  from  your  own  State  of  New  York, 
who  was  signally  honored  of  God  by  becoming 
the  first  person   who  ever  carried  intelligent 


WOMAN    IN    THE    MISSION    FIELD.        lO/ 

medical  relief  to  the  secluded  zenana  women 
of  India,  and  thus  became  the  pioneer  of  what 
has  since  become  one  of  the  most  interestinsf 
movements  of  modern  times.  Miss  Swain  was 
quickly  followed  by  others,  and  after  a  few  years 
a  further  great  step  was  taken  in  advance  by 
opening  an  informal  medical  school  for  women. 
In  due  time  Lady  Dufferin  became  interested 
in  this  great  work,  the  Indian  government 
gave  it  liberal  aid,  and  the  women  of  India 
became  at  once  heirs  of  a  new  source  of  relief 
in  sickness  and  a  new  and  highly  honorable 
avenue  to  employment  in  the  medical  profes- 
sion. 

What  this  means  to  the  young  women  and 
girls  of  India  I  can  hardly  make  you  under- 
stand. I  have  myself  seen  twenty  young  ladies, 
all  daughters  of  village  converts,  in  attendance 
at  a  medical  college.  These  girls  had  spent 
their  childhood  in  extreme  poverty.  Their 
fathers  had  been  accustomed  to  earn  about 
two  dollars  a  month  and  to  occupy  a  very 
low  social  position  in  the  village  community. 
But  one  of  these  girls  on  graduation  stepped 
at  once  into  a  situation  worth  twenty-five  dol- 
lars a  month,  an  income  which  in  the  eyes  of 
the  simple  villagers,  no  doubt,  seemed  princely. 
A  new  career  has  thus  been  opened  to  the 
womanhood  of  India,  while  relief  from  pain  and 


I08      WOMAN   IN   THE    MISSION    FIELD. 

Sickness  in  a  hundred  forms  has  been  secured 
for  all  coming  generations  to  uncounted  mil- 
lions of  Indian  women.  All  this  is  to-day, 
under  God,  owing  to  missionary  ladies,  and  I 
am  glad  to  be  able  to  testify  that  more  young 
women  are  offering  their  services  for  medical 
work  abroad  than  ever  before.  The  door  is 
still  wide  open  to  Christian  workers  of  this 
class,  and  the  great  movement  has  probably 
only  begun. 

I  could  greatly  expand  this  list  of  the  open- 
ing fields  which  God  is  setting  before  our 
Christian  women,  but  time  forbids.  Suffice  it 
to  say  that  their  work  in  the  mission  field  is 
only  begun.  The  ladies  now  abroad  are 
merely  the  pioneers  of  the  movement.  The 
field  is  practically  boundless.  The  demands 
of  the  present  day  are  increasing  constantly, 
and  ten  years  hence  will  be  more  than  double 
what  they  are  at  this  hour.  It  is  an  extraor- 
dinary fact,  and  one  which  is  not  at  all 
appreciated  at  its  full  value,  either  abroad  or 
at  home,  that  the  missionary  ladies,  in  India,  at 
least,  already  outnumber  the  men.  They  are 
in  a  majority  at  every  great  missionary  gather- 
ing throughout  the  country  ;  their  number  is 
increasing  also  more  rapidly  than  that  of  their 
brethren,  and  it  becomes  more  and  more  cer- 
tain that  with  their  increase  in  numbers  will 


WOMAN    IN   THE    MISSION    FIELD.        IO9 

come  a  corresponding  expansion  of  their  priv- 
ileges and  responsibilities.  The  work  is  so 
vast,  so  urgent,  its  demands  are  so  imperative, 
that  every  possible  agency  must  be  employed 
whenever  opportunity  offers;  and  hence  I 
look  forward  confidently  to  the  marshaling  of  a 
mighty  host  of  Christian  women  on  every  great 
mission  field  throughout  the  world.  The  oft- 
quoted  words  of  the  psalmist,  as  correctly 
rendered  in  one  of  the  versions  of  the  Old 
Testament — "  God  gave  the  word  ;  great  was 
the  company  of  the  women  who  published  it  " — 
seems  likely  to  have  its  most  marked  fulfill- 
ment in  the  modern  mission  field  of  the  world. 
God  has  given  a  word  of  light  and  promise  for 
the  nations  in  darkness,  and  while  all  men, 
women,  and  children  will  have  a  portion  of 
the  common  duty  to  perform  the  most  striking 
feature  of  the  m.ighty  task  will  probably  be  the 
presence  of  thousands  upon  thousands  of 
Christian  women,  gathered  out  of  all  Christian 
nations,  and  sent  out  to  the  ends  of  the  earth, 
worthily  representing  Him  to  whom  the  wom- 
anhood of  the  race  is  indebted  for  the  new 
world  of  hope  and  life  and  liberty  into 
which  women  everywhere  are  now  so  freely 
entering. 


MISSIONARY  POLITY. 


MISSIONARY  POLITY. 

MANY  years  ago,  when  on  a  visit  to  the 
United  States,  I  was  invited  to  meet  a 
few  gentlemen  representing  one  of  the  evan- 
gelical denominations  of  the  country  and 
confer  with  them  in  reference  to  a  proposal  to 
establish  a  Christian  mission  in  India  or  some 
other  foreign  land.  The  Church  in  question 
had  not  as  yet  taken  any  part  in  the  great 
missionary  movement,  and  the  intelligent  gen- 
tlemen who  met  me  knew  very  little  about 
the  details  of  such  work.  They  only  under- 
stood in  a  general  way  that  they  v^'ere  to  con- 
sider a  proposal  to  send  a  few  Christian  men 
and  women  to  some  non-Christian  country  to 
persuade  the  people  to  abandon  their  false 
faiths  and  become  Christians.  At  that  time 
my  own  experience  in  ihe  mission  field  was 
extremely  limited  ;  but  as  I  talked  with  those 
good  men  I  quickly  became  impressed  with 
the  thought  that  not  only  tlie  Church  which 
they  represented,  but  all  the  Churches,  had 
given  too  little  attention  to  the  general  subject 
of  missionary  polity.     Even  in  missionary  cir- 


114  MISSIONARY   POLITY. 

cles  this  subject  has  been  overlooked,  or,  if 
considered  at  all,  has  been  confined  to  the  dis- 
cussion of  a  few  questions  of  method  or  to 
incidental  questions  of  local  interest.  Even 
at  this  late  day  the  average  supporter  of 
Christian  missions  gives  little  thought  to  such 
a  subject,  and  missionaries  themselves  do  not 
always  realize  how  much  they  lose  and  how 
much  they  are  hampered  and  hindered  in  their 
work,  sometimes  by  the  application  of  a  wrong 
polity  and  sometimes  by  the  want  of  any  set- 
tled polity  whatever.  The  experience  of  a 
hundred  years  ought  to  suffice  to  settle  a  great 
many  important  questions,  and  good  men  who 
propose  to  take  up  new  missionary  work  ought 
no  longer  to  be  found  standing  where  William 
Carey  stood  a  century  ago,  with  everj'thing  to 
learn  and  inevitable  mistakes  and  failures 
awaiting  the  first  advances  into  untried  fields. 
It  is  always  interesting  to  watch  the  first 
efforts  of  missionaries  in  new  fields.  In  most 
cases  the  workers  are  young  and  without  much 
experience.  They  are  ardent  and  hopeful,  and 
quite  ready  to  follow  any  pathway  which 
seems  to  lead  to  assured  success  ;  but  the  av- 
erage man  cannot  carve  out  a  new  way  for 
himself.  The  missionary  is  not  gifted  above 
his  fellows,  and  hence  it  generally  happens 
that  he  adopts  the  policy  pursued  by  his  near- 


MISSIONARY    POLITY.  II 5 

est  neighbors,  and  seems  content  to  follow  a 
routine  which  has  the  sanction  of  usage,  even 
though  it  may  not  have  received  the  seal  of 
approved  success.  His  training  for  missionary 
work  has  been  defective.  The  military  officer 
must  have  very  much  more  than  a  knowledge 
of  military  tactics.  His  profession  has  become 
a  science,  with  certain  military  principles  to  be 
thoroughly  mastered  and  applied  as  occasion 
offers  in  active  service.  He  dare  not  become 
a  mere  imitator.  He  has  read  and  studied 
sketches  of  a  hundred  campaigns  and  battles^ 
and  finds  their  lessons  invaluable  ;  but  he  dare 
not  follow  in  all  its  details  any  other  man's 
course,  however  successful  it  may  have  been. 
Surely  the  missionary  ought  to  study  his  pro- 
fession, if  I  may  call  it  a  profession,  in  the 
same  spirit.  It  embodies  great  principles 
which  he  ought  to  master ;  it  has  created  a 
history  of  which  he  cannot  afford  to  be  igno- 
rant, and  it  supplies  him  with  lessons  which 
he  will  find  of  great  practical  value  all  along 
the  course  of  his  missionary  career. 

A   MISSIONARY   CONSTITUENCY   NEEDED. 

The  missionary  work  originates  in  the  home 
land,  and  hence  it  will  be  best  in  discussing 
certain  points  of  missionary  polity  to  begin  at 
the  fountain  head  of  the  movement.     The  first 


I  l6  MISSIONARY    POLITY. 

important  factor  in  the  movement  to  claim  our 
attention  is  the  constituency  on  which  the 
missionary  relies  for  support,  both  financial 
and  moral.  This  constituency  should  not  be 
impersonal  in  its  character  or  uncertain  in  its 
numbers  or  without  organization  or  definite- 
ness  of  purpose.  It  has  become  somewhat 
common  of  late  years  to  deprecate  all  attempts 
to  discover  donors  or  to  collect  subscriptions, 
under  the  mistaken  notion  that  our  faith  will 
be  more  conspicuously  honored  if  we  never 
ask  human  beings  for  help  and  trust  in  God 
alone  for  all  we  need.  As  an  exercise  for  our 
faith  there  may  be  something  to  say  for  this 
view,  but  we  owe  something  to  those  who 
give  as  well  as  to  ourselves,  and  we  must  con- 
sider their  relation  to  the  work  as  well  as  our 
own.  The  whole  Christian  world  should  be 
enlisted  in  support  of  the  missionary  enter- 
prise, and  this  cannot  be  done  by  hidden 
methods,  and  even  if  it  could  it  is  more  than 
doubtful  if  the  attempt  should  be  made. 
When  a  Christian  man  or  woman  assumes  an 
obligation  in  connection  with  this  work  it 
should  be  lifelong,  and  such  a  person  should 
be  placed  in  a  relation  to  the  work  which  can 
be  depended  upon.  An  intelligent,  devoted, 
and  permanent  constituency  is,  under  God, 
the    first   condition   of  success    in    missionary 


MISSIONARY    POLITY.  II7 

work.  It  must  be  composed  of  men  and 
women  who  believe  in  Christ's  commission  to 
the  Church,  who  believe  in  their  own  personal 
call  to  support  the  work,  who  pray  for  its  suc- 
cess, and  who  are  committed  to  its  support 
for  life. 

When  the  modern  missionary  movement 
commenced  it  was  not  generally  expected 
that  it  would  branch  out  on  denominational 
lines  ;  but  such  a  result  was  from  the  first  in- 
evitable, and  no  doubt  it  has  been  best  that  it 
took  this  course.  All  Christian  organizations 
inevitably  follow  the  lines  on  which  they  are 
accustomed  to  move,  and  it  is  the  part  of 
wisdom  quietly  to  recognize  facts  of  this  kind 
rather  than  to  try  to  contend  against  them. 
In  every  conflict  with  the  inevitable  we  are 
sure  to  be  worsted.  As  a  practical  matter  of 
fact  all  the  missionary  constituencies  of  the 
world  are  to-day  working  on  denominational 
lines,  or  else  supported  by  persons  whose  more 
or  less  peculiar  views  distinguish  them  from 
others  and  make  them  denominational  in  all 
but  name.  This  makes  it  less  difficult  to 
discover  a  given  constituency  and  more  easy 
to  organize  a  large  body  of  supporters  of  the 
cause,  both  for  praj-er  and  vigorous  efforts  to 
promote  the  interests  of  the  work.  This  ad- 
vantage should  never  be  lost  sight  of  under 


Il8  MISSIONARY    POLITY. 

any  circumstances.  The  individual  is  traced 
to  the  church  to  which  he  belongs,  not  that  he 
may  be  concealed  within  its  precincts,  but 
rather  brought  out  into  the  light  and  engaged 
in  vigorous  efforts  to  help  forward  the  greatest 
work  of  all  the  ages. 

In  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  an  at- 
tempt has  been  made  to  embrace  the  entire 
membership  in  the  constituency  of  the  Mis- 
sionary Society,  or,  to  quote  the  official  phrase- 
ology, "  the  support  of  missions  is  committed 
to  the  churches  as  such."  This  is  perhaps  a 
move  in  the  direction  of  the  best  ideal,  but 
unfortunately  an  immense  constituency  of  two 
and  a  half  million  Christians  cannot  be  created 
by  any  single  act  of  an  ecclesiastical  body. 
The  ecclesiastical  machinery  may  be  put  in 
operation  in  the  interest  of  a  given  cause,  and 
in  the  fullness  of  time  a  great  Church  may 
become  fully  committed  to  the  support  of  an 
organized  effort  to  evangelize  the  non-Chris- 
tian nations;  but  so  far  as  the  immediate  pres- 
ent is  concerned  the  constituency  in  question 
is  in  a  large  measure  only  a  nominal  one.  In 
every  part  of  the  country'  pastors  and  congre- 
gations can  be  found  who  practically  repudiate 
all  missionary  obligations.  They  may  go  so 
far  as  to  allow  a  formal  collection  to  be  taken 
once   a  year  in  the  public    congregation,  but 


MISSIONARY    POLITY.  II 9 

this  is  done  under  constraint,  and  sometimes 
under  protest.  Leaders  of  the  people  are 
heard  protesting  against  the  poHcy  of  sending 
money  out  of  the  country  when  it  is  so  lu'gently 
needed  at  home.  Men  and  women  of  this  class 
do  not  in  anyway  belong  to  a  missionary  con- 
stituency, and  it  is  a  serious  mistake  to  assume 
that  they  do.  The  missionary  enterprise  de- 
mands the  support  of  Christian  men  and 
women  who  not  only  believe  in  its  claims,  but 
who  are  as  devoted  to  its  interests  as  they  are 
to  their  own,  and  who  no  more  think  of  doubt- 
ing its  success  than  of  giving  up  their  faith  in 
Christ  or  their  hope  of  heaven. 

In  this  case  it  is  not  desirable  to  change  the 
policy  of  the  Church,  so  far  as  its  ultimate  ob- 
ject is  concerned,  but  it  is  very  much  to  be  de- 
sired that  a  systematic  effort  be  commenced 
to  enlist  and  organize  an  avowed  constituency 
of  missionary  workers  and  supporters.  This  is 
a  crying  need  in  all  the  Churches.  It  will  not 
do  to  depend  upon  a  fluctuating  public  opin- 
ion or  upon  an  uncertain  enthusiasm.  A  vast 
army  of  missionary  supporters  is  needed,  and 
this  army,  like  every  successful  army,  must  be 
well  organized.  If  five  hundred  thousand  or 
a  million  Christians  were  enrolled  as  members 
of  a  missionary  society,  all  pledged  to  pay  a 
stated  annual  contribution,  and   all   obligated 


120  MISSIONARY    POLITY. 

to  support  the  cause  in  every  time  of  special 
emergency,  the  violent  financial  ebb  and  flow 
which  so  often  cripples  the  work  of  our  foreign 
missions  would  almost  wholly  cease.  It  would, 
of  course,  require  some  time  and  much  labor 
to  enlist  and  organize  a  vast  constituency  of 
this  kind,  but  until  this  work  is  taken  in  hand 
none  of  the  great  missionary  societies  can  make 
much  further  progress.  There  must  be  organ- 
ization, and  thorough  organization,  in  every 
work  of  this  kind  before  success  can  become 
either  general  or  permanent.  Let  every  mis- 
sion in  the  world  be  sustained  by  a  well-known, 
definitely  constituted,  and  well-organized  con- 
stituency, and  the  working  efficienc)'  of  the 
foreign  missionary  body  will  be  doubled  in  a 
single  year. 

THE   HOME   MANAGEMENT. 

Having  secured  a  constituency,  the  next  step 
in  the  development  of  missionary  work  is  that 
of  providing  for  the  home  management  of  the 
various  interests  connected  with  it.  This  is 
usually  done  by  organizing  boards  of  directors, 
or  managers,  with  their  powers  more  or  less 
strictly  defined,  and  acting  somctinies  under 
the  direct  authority  of  a  Church,  but  more  fre- 
cjuently  as  the  governing  body  of  a  missionary 
society.     The  duties  of  most  of  these  officials 


MISSIONARY    rOLITY.  121 

are  largely  advisory,  but  a  select  few — usually 
limited  to  a  president,  treasurer,  and  one  or 
more  secretaries — are  intrusted  with  the  prac- 
tical administration  of  the  financial  interests  of 
the  mission  or  missions  under  their  care.  So 
far  as  the  mere  statement  of  polity  is  con- 
cerned, a  plan  of  this  kind  is  perhaps  as  good 
as  any  other  that  could  be  devised,  but  when 
in  practical  operation  its  merits  or  demerits 
will  be  found  to  depend  very  largely  upon  the 
qualifications  of  the  members  of  the  board,  and 
especially  upon  those  intrusted  with  official 
duties.  It  need  hardly  be  said  that  these  per- 
sons should  be  unhesitating  believers  in  tlie 
missionary  enterprise  and  intensely  interested 
in  it.  They  should  also  be  well  informed,  not 
only  in  all  that  pertains  to  the  general  subject, 
but  more  especially  in  all  the  details  of  the 
missions  under  their  care.  They  should  know 
the  history  of  these  missions,  the  character  of 
the  people  among  whom  they  are  planted,  the 
hindrances  and  helps  to  the  work,  the  names 
and  some  particulars  concerning  the  mission- 
aries in  the  several  fields,  and  they  should  be 
acquainted  with  the  progress  which  the  work 
makes  from  year  to  year,  and  know  whether 
the  money  which  they  help  to  administer  is 
profitably  bestowed  or  not.  Unfortunately, 
however,  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  find  two  or 


122  MISSIONARY   POLITY. 

three  dozen  men  who  are  otherwise  qualified 
to  serve  on  such  a  board  who  can  be  persuaded 
tliat  they  have  leisure  enough  to  read  and  study, 
and  if  need  be  travel,  in  order  to  qualify  them- 
selves for  such  a  service  as  this  would  indicate. 
The  result  is  that  the  average  member  of  a 
board  of  missions  is  not  expected  to  know 
much  more  than  other  men  concerning  mis- 
sions in  general  or  those  of  his  own  society  in 
particular. 

Many  years  ago  I  chanced  to  be  in  attend- 
ance in  a  large  ecclesiastical  assembly,  when  a 
discussion  occurred  concerning  the  selection  of 
secretaries  for  a  missionary  society.  A  dozen 
or  more  speakers  took  part,  and  it  was  curious 
to  observe  how  nearly  everyone  attached  the 
first  importance  to  platform  eloquence  as  a 
qualification  for  the  post.  Power  to  organize 
counted  for  nothing,  missionary  experience 
counted  for  nothing,  knowledge  of  the  work 
counted  for  nothing,  ability  in  finance  counted 
for  nothing,  and,  worse  than  all,  faith  in  and 
devotion  to  the  missionary  cause  counted  for 
nothing,  while  popular  eloquence  counted  for 
everything.  It  was  the  virtual  recognition  of 
a  policy  which  would  have  passed  over  Ulysses 
S.  Grant  and  put  Wendell  Phillips  at  the  head 
of  our  armies,  to  the  very  great  peril  of  the 
nation.     Those  who  are  placed  in  positions  of 


MISSIONARY    POLITY.  I23 

greatest  influence  and  authority  in  connection 
with  missionary  affairs  should  always  be  chosen 
with  reference  to  their  special  qualifications  for 
the  peculiar  work  to  be  done.  When  a  choice 
of  this  kind  is  made  in  a  great  popular  assem- 
bly it  is  sometimes  amusing,  and  at  the  same 
time  startling,  to  observe  that  among  a  dozen 
competitors  not  more  than  one  or  two  are  per- 
sons who  have  ever  been  known  to  evince  any 
special  interest  in  the  missionary  cause  or  to 
have  any  special  knowledge  of  the  work  which 
they  wish  to  direct. 

"  But  how,"  it  may  be  asked,  "  can  we  mend 
matters?  Where  can  we  find  men  fitted  for 
the  duty  by  reading,  study,  and  observation, 
and  at  the  same  time  possessing  the  natural 
gifts  and  missionary  grace  needed  for  such  po- 
sitions?" 

Such  persons  can  be  found;  but  if  this  were 
impossible  it  would  only  remain  to  choose  men 
for  such  posts  who  could  and  would  seek  the 
preparation  needed  for  their  duties.  I  have 
known  members  of  missionary  boards  who 
traveled  widely  and  studied  carefully  in  order 
to  qualify  themselves  for  their  duties.  I  have 
known  a  do/xn  secretaries  who  could  name 
every  missionary  connected  with  their  society, 
and  state  with  a  fair  degree  of  accuracy  the 
condition  of  affairs  in  every  separate  mission 


124  MISSIONARY    POLITY. 

station  in  which  they  had  any  special  interest. 
In  cases  of  this  kind  Christian  devotion  must 
do  its  work,  as  it  does  elsewhere.  Those  on 
whom  responsibility  rests  at  home  must  be  as 
devoted  as  those  who  go  abroad,  and  if  they 
would  serve  their  generation  faithfully  they 
must  qualify  themselves  for  their  duties.  It  is 
a  mournful  fact  that  but  few  of  our  ministers 
are  well  informed  in  missionary  matters,  and, 
this  being  so,  we  need  not  wonder  that  more 
of  our  laymen  do  not  study  missionary  litera- 
ture and  keep  abreast  of  the  advancing  host  of 
missionary  workers  throughout  the  world.  Let 
us  hope  that  the  days  of  remissness  in  this 
respect  are  past,  and  that  better  counsels  will 
prevail  among  the  leaders  of  this  great  move- 
ment in  the  future. 

THE  WORK  versus  THE  SOCIETY. 

Having  thus  briefly  noticed  a  few  points  in 
connection  with  the  supporting  body  and 
home  management  of  missionary  agencies,  let 
me  in  the  next  place  call  attention  to  an  impor- 
tant principle  which  should  ever  be  kept  in  full 
view  in  the  prosecution  of  the  work.  It  is  this  : 
The  missionary  society  exists  for  the  work,  and 
not  the  work  for  the  society.  The  temptation 
to  reverse  the  principle  is  often  very  strong, 
and  to  those  who  for  long  years  become  accus- 


MISSIONARY    POLITY.  \2$ 

tomed  to  the  home  perspective  it  must  at  times 
seem  as  if  the  interests  of  the  society  must  in 
every  case  be  paramount.  To  such  persons  it 
must  seem  like  the  case  of  a  stream  against  its 
fountain,  to  put  the  mission  above  the  society. 
The  fountain  is  the  source  of  supj)ly,  and  the 
stream  is  so  absolutely  dependent  upon  its 
source  that  it  seems  entitled  to  the  first  con- 
sideration in  every  respect.  But  in  this  case 
the  fountain  has  been  created  for  the  stream, 
and  can  only  justify  its  existence  by  securing 
the  welfare  of  the  stream  ;  and  hence,  in  the 
ordinary  administration  of  the  society's  affairs, 
the  work  in  the  field  should  always  be  regarded 
as  the  paramount  interest.  This  may  possibly 
seem  like  a  hard  saying  to  many  of  those  who 
are  intrusted  with  the  harassing  cares  and 
heavy  burdens  of  the  home  management. 
Such  persons  are  often  sorely  tried,  are  driven 
to  their  wits'  ends  in  trying  to  find  money 
eiiough  for  the  remittances  as  they  fall  due, 
and  it  may  seem  not  only  ungracious  but  even 
unjust  to  remind  them  that  their  official 
interests  are,  and  ever  should  be,  secondary  to 
the  welfare  of  the  work  in  foreign  lands.  They 
are  struggling  to  mountain  their  society,  to 
foster  its  resources,  to  replenish  its  treasury, 
and  to  them  it  must  seem  at  times  as  if  the 
very  existence  of  the  work  abroad  depended 
9 


126  MISSIOXARY   rOI.TTY. 

upon  the  success  of  their  efforts.  But  just 
here  the  danger  h'cs.  In  their  zeal  for  the 
society  the  interests  of  the  work  may  be  sac- 
rificed. Take,  for  example,  the  case  of  an  in- 
efficient or  unsuitable  missionary.  The  best 
interests  of  the  work  demand  that  he  should 
retire  to  make  way  for  a  better  worker,  but  the 
representative  of  the  society  objects  th.it  the 
presence  of  a  returned  missionary  is  dishearten- 
ing in  its  influence  on  the  supporters  of  the 
work,  that  it  lessens  the  collections,  gives  rise 
to  evil  surmises,  and  does  harm  in  other  wa\-s. 
The  word  is  passed  along  that  the  missionary 
in  question  must  remain  at  his  post,  whether 
adapted  to  the  work  or  not,  and  as  a  matter  of 
fact  such  men  have  been  known  to  be  kept  in 
the  service  thirty  or  forty  years,  not  because 
they  were  doing  a  good  work,  but  chiefly  be- 
cause of  the  mistaken  notion  that  the  interests 
of  the  society  required  them  to  remain  abroad. 
In  the  meantime  better  men  are  kept  out  of 
the  field,  and  thousands  of  dollars  are  spent,  if 
not  wholly  for  naught,  yet  certainly  without 
achieving  the  measure  of  success  that  might 
have  been  secured.  This  is  only  one  of  a  class 
of  illustrations  which  are  very  apt  to  occur 
in  the  administration  of  missionary  affairs. 
As  another  illustration  I  may  mention  an 
attempt  which  was  made  to  curtail  the  privi- 


MISSIONARY    rOI.ITY.  12/ 

leges  of  a  large  number  of  missionaries  for  the 
avowed  reason  that  it  would  simplify  the  ad- 
ministration in  the  home  office  and  add  some- 
what to  the  prerogatives  of  those  in  authority. 
In  other  words,  the  normal  development  of  a 
group  of  foreign  missions  was  held  to  be  of  less 
importance  than  the  efficiency  and  convenience 
of  an  office  in  a  distant  city.  Had  the  pro- 
posal succeeded,  the  result  would  probably 
have  proved  fatal  to  a  movement  which  has 
powerfully  influenced  some  of  the  most  success- 
ful missions  in  the  world,  and  which  bids  fair 
to  serve  as  an  example  to  other  prominent 
missions  in  different  parts  of  the  globe. 

LIMITATIONS   OF   AUTHORITY. 

These  remarks  may  suggest  the  discussion 
of  a  broader  question,  affecting  the  whole  rela- 
tion of  the  home  management  to  the  active 
work  carried  on  in  the  mission  field.  To  what 
extent  should  a  board,  or  a  secretary,  direct 
the  missionaries  in  their  work  ?  What  is  the 
limit  of  their  responsibility?  What  is  the 
measure  of  their  authority  over  the  individual 
missionaries  ?  How  far,  if  at  all,  should  the 
governing  body  of  a  missionary  society  exercise 
ecclesiastical  functions  ? 

These  questions  do  not  by  any  means  receive 
uniform  answers  in  all  parts  of  the  missionary 


128  MISSIONARY    TOLITY. 

world.  In  some  cases  ecclesiastical  authority 
is  used  very  freely  in  all  matters,  great  and 
small,  spiritual  and  secular.  In  other  cases  a 
clear  distinction  is  recognized  between  the 
affairs  of  the  Church  and  the  mission.  Then, 
again,  under  some  missionary  societies  the 
authorities  in  the  home  office  give  minute 
directions  in  reference  to  all  the  details  of  the 
work,  even  in  the  most  distant  fields;  in  other 
cases  a  wise  discretion  is  given  to  the  men  on 
the  ground,  and  the  general  administration  of 
the  work  is  freely  committed  into  their  hands. 
It  need  hardly  be  said  that  the  general  tend- 
ency in  all  mission  fields  at  the  present  day  is 
in  the  direction  of  giving  increased  responsi- 
bility to  the  missionaries  who  are  present  on 
the  scene  of  action,  and  who  must,  in  the  na- 
ture of  the  case,  be  best  qualified  to  meet 
emergencies  as  they  arise.  The  tendency,  I 
say,  is  in  this  direction,  but  as  yet  only  a  very 
limited  number  of  foreign  missions  enjoy  that 
freedom  of  action  which  is  necessary  to  insure 
the  highest  measure  of  success.  In  India,  for 
example,  in  most  missions  the  rule  prevails 
that  all  important  changes  must  receive  the 
sanction  of  authorities  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  globe ;  and  as  this  sanction  can  rarely  be 
obtained  without  a  delay  of  several  months 
the  hands  of  the  missionaries  are  often  tied  at 


MISSIONARY   POLITY.  1 29 

the  very  time  when  prompt  and  vigorous  action 
is  imperatively  demanded.  This  poHcy  can 
only  be  defended  as  a  temporary  necessity  in 
the  early  days  of  a  mission;  but  when  experi- 
enced leaders  are  in  the  field  it  is  as  absurd  to 
require  them  to  refer  the  disposition  of  the 
workers  to  parties  in  London  or  New  York  as 
it  would  be  to  compel  a  general  on  a  battle- 
field to  secure  the  approval  of  distant  civil 
officers  before  making  a  change  in  the  dispo- 
sition of  the  forces  under  his  command. 

THE   MISSIONARY   COMMISSARIAT. 

The  relation  of  a  missionary  society  to  a 
foreign  mission  is  somewhat  like  that  of  a  com- 
missariat department  to  an  army  in  the  field. 
No  arm  of  the  common  service  is  more  impor- 
tant, since  not  only  the  efficienc}%  but  in  most 
cases  the  very  existence  of  the  army  depends 
on  its  successful  management ;  and  yet  no 
army  is  ever  directed  in  its  movements  by  the 
commissariat  officers.  It  is  the  special  duty  of 
these  officers  to  relieve  those  in  command  of 
active  operations  from  the  ^^■ork  and  worry 
which  always  attend  the  providing  of  supplies 
for  a  great  army,  especially  when  actual  war  is 
in  progress.  This  illustration  does  not,  I  know, 
hold  good  in  all  respects,  but  so  far  as  the  main 
principle  is  concerned  it  presents  the  case  very 


130  MISSIONARY   POLITY. 

fairly.  It  may,  for  instance,  be  said  that  the 
home  authorities  have  a  responsibility  in  the 
selection  of  workers,  in  sanctioning  the  expen- 
diture of  funds,  and  in  the  general  management 
of  finances,  quite  unlike  the  duties  of  commis- 
sariat officers.  This  is  very  true,  so  far  as  these 
duties  are  concerned,  but  the  main  issue  is  not 
affected  by  the  admission.  The  point  of  the 
illustration  is,  so  far  as  active  operations  in  the 
mission  field  are  concerned,  that  men  on  one 
side  of  the  globe  cannot  direct  other  men  on 
the  other  side  of  the  globe,  and  that  while  all 
belong  to  the  same  army,  and  have  the  same 
end  in  view,  the  special  calling  of  the  one  party 
is  to  provide  the  sinews  of  war,  and  of  the  other 
to  go  forth  to  battle  and  become  responsible 
for  operations  in  the  field. 

I  do  not,  however,  wish  to  be  understood  as 
objecting  to  the  leaders  of  missionary  societies 
assuming  broader  responsibility  when  occasion 
serves.  One  of  the  most  urgent  needs  of  the 
hour  is  missionary  statesmanship,  and  nowhere 
is  this  need  more  urgent  than  in  the  councils 
of  those  who  manage  the  affairs  of  the  great 
missionary  societies  of  the  present  day.  It 
has  often  happened  in  history  that  men  who 
could  not  command  armies  or  sketch  cam- 
paigns could  yet  see  with  the  eye  of  genius 
where  great  campaigns  could  be  fought,  and 


MISSIONARY   POLITY.  131 

could  lay  their  hands  on  men  who  could  do 
the  work  which  they  themselves  could  not 
undertake.  The  elder  Pitt  was  a  statesman 
of  this  class.  He  saw  a  magnificent  chance 
in  North  America  to  wrest  a  continent  from  a 
powerful  enemy  and  give  it  to  his  own  sover- 
eign. He  selected  General  Wolfe,  and  sent 
him  across  the  sea  to  undertake  the  desperate 
task  ;  and  one  of  the  turning  points  of  the 
world's  history  was  the  result.  The  mission- 
ary world  of  the  present  day  has  crying  need 
of  statesmen  of  this  class.  The  present  is  an 
age  of  opportunity.  Nations  and  continents 
are  to  be  won,  and  every  leader  may  find  a 
sphere  of  action  if  he  seeks  it.  But  it  is  not 
leadership  to  contend  for  the  right  to  adminis- 
ter details  in  distant  fields,  or  even  to  direct 
operations  on  a  larger  scale  which  belong  le- 
gitimately to  those  who  have  created  the 
work,  who  are  present  to  meet  emergencies  as 
they  arise,  and  Avho,  in  the  order  of  God's 
providence,  must  bear  the  chief  responsibility 
in  coming  years. 

PLANTING. 

Having  thus  noticed  some  features  of  the 
polity  which  should  be  adopted  in  the  home 
management  of  missionary  work,  let  us  now 
look  abroad  and  see  how  the  case  stands  with 


132  MISSIONARY    POLITY. 

those  intrusted  with  the  moinentous  respon- 
sibility of  planting  Christianity  and  Christian 
institutions  in  lands  where  Christ  is  not  known. 
I  have  used  the  word  "  planting  "  advisedly. 
If  anyone  were  to  ask  me  to  state  a  general 
rule  or  principle  for  the  guidance  of  a  young 
missionary  I  should  answer  in  a  single  word, 
Plant.  We  hear  much  of  sowing,  and  the 
term  is  scriptural  enough ;  but  there  is  rea- 
son to  fear  that  upon  the  lips  of  many  it  is 
used  chiefly  with  reference  to  work  which  is 
not  expected  to  produce  any  visible  result. 
But  surely  no  part  of  the  parable  of  the  sower 
was  intended  to  teach  any  such  lesson.  The 
word  "  plant  "  is  perhaps  less  liable  to  be  mis- 
understood, since  it  always  conveys  the  idea 
of  something  having  life  placed  under  condi- 
tions which  will  promote  its  growth.  In  the 
earlier  years  of  my  missionary  service  I  was 
once  struck  by  a  remark  made  concerning  a 
brother  worker.  "  Everything  he  has  started," 
it  was  said,  "  is  still  going  on  and  doing  a  good 
work."  The  worker  in  question  had  learned 
the  secret  of  putting  vitality  into  his  work  and 
placing  it  under  conditions  which  insured  its 
growth  and  prosperity.  Unfortunately,  this  is 
more  than  can  be  said  of  a  great  deal  of  the 
work  done  in  mission  fields.  Some  good  men 
seem  to  be  perfectly  content  to  spend    their 


MISSIONARY    POLITY.  I  33 

years  in  routine  work,  persuading  tlienisclves 
that  the}'  are  sowing  seed  for  future  harvests; 
but  they  estabh"sh  nothing,  they  organize 
nothing,  they  plant  nothing.  The  worker  wlio 
can  found  a  Httle  viUage  school  and  put  it  on 
a  basis  which  gives  promise  of  permanency 
has  learned  the  secret  of  planting  in  the  mis- 
sionary sense  of  the  word.  The  mnn  wlio  or- 
ganizes a  little  church  is  dealing  with  materi- 
als which  bear  the  stamp  of  immortality  upon 
them,  and  should  aim  to  plant  for  all  the  years 
and  ages  to  come.  The  band  of  missionaries 
who  are  associated  together  in  a  mission  should 
make  it  their  aim  to  create  an  organization 
which  will  live  and  grow  throurjh  all  comincr 
time.  They  should  remember  that  the)'  can- 
not hope  to  remain  forever  at  their  posts,  nor 
can  Christians  in  the  home  land  continue 
always  to  send  out  missionaries  like  thenu  i.]ves, 
and  hence  they  should  strive  earnestl\-  and 
constantly  to  plant,  not  onl)-  churches,  but  all 
manner  of  Christian  institutions,  in  the  country 
of  their  sojourn. 

In  making  appropriations  this  principle 
should  be  carefully  recognized.  Everything 
which  gives  promise  of  permanency  should  be 
generously  fostered  and  encouraged.  Wher- 
ever a  scliool  can  be  made  self-supporting, 
that   is,  put  in  a  position  which  will  enable  it 


134  MISSIONARY    POLITY. 

to  pay  its  own  way  in  the  future,  it  should  at 
once  be  equipped  for  a  career  of  permanent 
usefuhiess.  Wherever  a  church  can  be  made 
both  self  supporting  and  self-propagating  it 
should  at  once  be  assisted  to  gain  so  desirable 
a  position.  Every  mission  field  should  be 
dotted  over  with  living  and  growing  agencies, 
firmly  rooted  in  the  soil  and  giving  promise 
of  indefinite  years  of  useful  service. 

ORGANIZATION. 

If  life  and  growth  arc  necessary  to  health- 
ful missionary  work  it  must  be  remembered 
that  organization  is  a  law  of  both,  and  hence 
provision  should  always  be  made  for  effecting 
this  at  as  early  a  day  as  possible,  and  for  per- 
fecting it  from  time  to  time  so  as  to  keep  pace 
with  the  progress  of  the  work.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  that  this  condition  of  healthful  prog- 
ress has  been  greatly  overlooked  in  the  past. 
Many  good  men  betray  a  certain  kind  of  im- 
patience at  the  very  mention  of  the  word, 
thinking,  very  naturally  too,  that  raw  converts 
from  heathenism  cannot  be  prepared  for  the 
intricate  duties  and  weighty  responsibilities 
which  are  usually  associated  with  the  word 
"  organization."  But  laws  of  growth  must  be 
respected,  no  matter  what  the  intellectual  plane 
of  the  parties  concerned  may  be,  and  organiza- 


MISSIONARY    PULITV.  135 

tioii  should  never  be  ignored  in  the  mission  field. 
It  is  much  simpler  and  less  inconvenient,  no 
doubt,  for  the  missionary  to  regard  his  converts 
as  so  many  children,  and  to  govern  them  pater- 
nally by  a  free  exercise  of  personal  authority ; 
but  no  missionary  should  ever  venture  to  try  an 
experiment  of  this  kind.  If  the  plan  of  organi- 
zation in  use  is  too  complex  make  it  more  sim- 
ple. At  every  hazard  let  the  machinery  em- 
ployed be  made  flexible  enough  to  be  adaptable 
to  any  and  every  contingency  which  may  arise. 
Lay  responsibility  upon  the  people,  and  teach 
them  how  to  share  it  among  them.  Let  every 
little  church  be  organized  and  drilled,  and  never, 
under  any  possible  circumstances,  let  a  Chris- 
tian community  be  left  to  drift  about,  the  play 
of  circumstances,  or  possibly  the  victim  of  pas- 
sions, with  no  provision  made  for  adjusting 
differences  or  preserving  peace.  Blunders 
will  occur,  ludicrous  and  sometimes  painful 
errors  will  be  committed,  but  the  fact  remains 
unchanged  that  every  healthy  and  growing 
body  needs  organization,  and  cannot  prosper 
v.'ithout  it. 

I  feel  like  adding  one  more  word  :  In  organ- 
izing let  the  work  be  done  on  broad  lines. 
Without  Avishing  to  discuss  questions  of  eccle- 
siastical polity,  I  nevertheless  cannot  let  the 
subject  drop  without  saying  that  a  mission  in 


136  MISSIONARY   POLITY. 

a  non-Christian  land  is  wondciTully  strength- 
ened by  holding  a  connection  more  or  less 
direct  with  other  missions  of  like  character 
engaged  in  the  same  work  and  laboring  under 
similar  conditions.  Even  where  the  Congre- 
gational form  of  government  prevails  a  formal 
union  of  allied  forces  for  m.issionary  purposes 
cannot  fail  to  exercise  a  profound  and  bene- 
ficial influence  upon  the  workers  and  the  work. 
It  would  be  better,  however,  if  the  bond  of 
union  could  be  closer  and  more  permanent. 
In  the  case  of  the  field  in  which  my  own  lot  is 
now  cast  it  has  been  found  that  a  widespread 
organization,  one  that  has  assumed  almost 
imperial  proportions,  has  profoundly  affected 
the  mass  of  our  Indian  preachers,  has  inspired 
them  with  high  ambition  to  do  great  things 
for  God,  and  has  impressed  them  with  a  deep 
conviction  of  the  unspeakable  responsibility 
which  God  has  laid  upon  them.  The  non- 
Christian  world  is  big  enough,  and  the  open 
fields  are  numerous  enough,  to  afford  ample 
scope  for  scores  of  great  organizations  aiming 
at  the  conversion  of  tens  of  millions,  and  pre- 
senting before  the  e}'es  of  the  young  mission- 
ary fields  of  action  far  transcending,  both  in 
extent  and  in  richness  of  opportunity,  any 
other  spheres  of  labor  to  be  found  on  the 
globe. 


MISSIONARY    POLITY.  I  37 

AVOID  A   NARROW  POLICY. 

In  hiving  down  a  plan  of  operations  in  a 
foreign  field  care  should  be  taken  not  to 
choose  a  policy  too  narrow  for  the  free  exer- 
cise of  the  varied  gifts  of  a  body  of  workers, 
or  for  the  varied  interests  of  the  people  who 
are  expected  to  become  Christians.  It  is  not 
well,  for  instance,  to  make  a  mission  exclu- 
sively educational,  or  exclusively  evangelistic, 
or  industrial,  or  medical.  It  is  always  well 
enough  for  a  missionary  to  be  a  man  of  one 
work,  but  that  one  work  will  inevitably  be 
found  to  connect  itself  with  a  variety  of  inter- 
ests. Whatever  belongs  to  the  convert  ought 
to  be  of  interest  to  the  missionary.  The  edu- 
cation of  the  children,  the  spiritual  care  of 
the  parents,  the  creation  of  Christian  homes, 
the  removal  of  crushing  debts,  the  uplifting  of 
the  people  into  a  better  social  life,  the  promo- 
tion of  a  score  of  social  and  moral  reforms — 
these  and  other  kindred  questions  must  con- 
cern every  faithful  missionary,  and  should  be 
accepted  without  misgiving  and  without  hesita- 
tion. A  literature  will  have  to  be  created  for 
the  people,  education  will  of  necessity  rise 
from  the  most  elementary  beginnings  to  the 
level  reached  in  Christian  lands,  rude  industries 
will  be  found   giving  place  to  more  advanced 


138  MISSIONARY    POLITY. 

methods  of  manufacture  and  trade  ;  and  in  all 
these  changes  the  missionary  will  be  expected 
to  be  the  helper,  and  to  some  extent  the  di- 
rector, of  the  people.  He  cannot  afford  to  be 
a  narrow  man  or  to  confine  himself  to  a  narrow 
line  of  work,  and  no  attempt  should  be  made 
to  impose  such  a  policy  upon  him. 

It  is  sometimes  wise  to  send  out  workers  for 
special  classes,  as,  for  instance,  to  the  educated 
young  men  of  the  great  cities  in  India,  or  to  the 
women  in  zenanas ;  but  as  a  general  rule  it  will 
be  found  best  to  instruct  every  missionary  to  go 
to  tlic  people  to  whom  he  finds  most  ready 
access.  It  does  not  matter  very  much  what 
particular  class  he  reaches,  provided  he  finds 
access  to  masses  of  the  people.  One  convert 
may  prove  more  influential  than  another,  but 
no  country  has  ever  been  Christianized  by 
gathering  out  from  the  mass  a  select  few  as 
converts  and  using  them  as  connecting  links 
between  the  missionary  and  the  people  at 
large.  Christianity  is  cmph;itically  the  religion 
of  the  people,  and  if  there  is  one  thing  we  may 
do  in  absolute  confidence  and  safety  it  is  to 
go  to  willing  masses  of  human  beings  any- 
where in  the  wide  world  and  commend  to 
them  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ.  We  may  be 
led  to  the  most  common  of  the  common  people, 
but  this  matters  nothing.     Those  who  win  the 


MISSIONARY    POLITY.  I  39 

common  people  will  in  the  end  win  the  nation. 
There  is  a  wonderful  power  in  the  movements 
of  great  bodies  of  men.  They  may  be  lowly 
and  even  despised,  but  as  they  steadily  move 
in  a  given  direction  other  bodies  of  men  not 
far  removed  from  them  in  social  position  will 
begin  to  feel  a  similar  impulse,  and  soon  a  de- 
cisive movement  will  be  perceived,  deepening 
and  widening  as  it  extends,  and  giving  promise 
of  continued  progress  for  years  and  years  to 
come.  The  missionary  who  shrinks  from  con- 
tact with  the  lov/ly  multitude  is  not  really  pre- 
pared for  wide  success,  and  it  may  be  accepted 
as  certain  beyond  all  peradventure  that  he  will 
not  achieve  it. 

FOLLOW    UP   SUCCESS. 

It  has  often  seemed  to  me  that  both  the 
missionaries  in  the  field  and  the  authorities  at 
home  are  prone  to  overlook  the  importance  of 
following  up,  with  all  possible  vigor,  any  marked 
success  which  is  won.  In  this  work,  as  in  ac- 
tive warfare,  a  victory  cannot  be  lightly  thrown 
away.  It  must  be  followed  up  with  all  possi- 
ble energy  and  made  to  serve  as  the  pathway 
to  other  and  greater  victories.  If  need  be,  other 
enterprises  should  be  held  in  abeyance  for  a 
time  and  all  possible  forces  brought  to  bear 
upon  the  point  where  the  enemy  is  yielding 


140  MISSIONARY    POLITY. 

and  his  lines  breaking.  If  this  vast  world  of 
ours  is  ever  to  become  a  Christian  world  our 
militant  hosts  at  the  front  must  not  only  learn 
the  meaning  of  the  word  victory,  but  they 
must  learn  how  to  win  victories  and  grow 
familiar  with  the  experience.  Unfortunately, 
however,  we  do  not  always  see  this  policy  pur- 
sued. It  is  an  extraordinary,  and,  I  might  add, 
an  almost  incredible,  fact  that  it  is  often  much 
more  difficult  to  obtain  aid  for  a  work  which 
is  manifestly  succeeding  than  for  one  which 
gives  only  a  remote  hope  of  final  success.  If  a 
certain  work  is  said  to  be  very  inexpensive 
the  chances  are  very  great  that  it  will  be  re- 
garded as  of  little  value.  If,  in  like  manner,  it 
is  said  to  be  successful  it  is  quietly  assumed 
that  it  is  in  a  prosperous  condition  and  does 
not  need  help.  On  the  other  hand,  when  a 
large  sum  of  money  is  asked  for  an  enterprise 
which  gives  only  a  remote,  and  perhaps  indi- 
rect, promise  of  success  its  value  is  rated  at  a 
high  figure,  and  help  is  bestowed  upon  it  with- 
out hesitation. 

We  may  in  this  way  account  for  what  often 
seems  a  strange  anomaly  in  missionary  adminis- 
tration ;  but  the  explanation  does  not  lessen 
the  gravity  of  the  error  in  question.  The  time 
has  come  for  us  carefully  and  prayerfully  to 
consider  what  I  shall  venture  to  call  the  possi- 


MISSIONARY    POLITY,  I41 

bilities  of  victory.  i\  sini^le  vict(jiy  vigorously 
followed  up  can  be  made  equal  to  ten  other 
victories  on  the  morrow  of  the  day  of  battle. 
The  less  the  expense  the  greater  is  the  value  of 
the  work.  The  slender  supply  of  barley  loaves 
on  a  memorable  occasion  did  not  lessen  the 
value  of  the  great  feast  which  made  the  occasion 
historical.  Had  a  royal  banquet  been  spread 
for  the  hungry  people  at  great  expense  and 
with  an  immense  amount  of  labor  and  trouble 
the  event  would  never  have  been  heard  of 
again.  Strangely  enough,  we  all  learn  most 
slowly  our  simplest  lessons,  and  one  of  these 
lessons  which  God's  militant  people  have  as 
yet  failed  to  master  is  that  a  victory  on  a 
mission  field,  promptly  and  vigorously  followed 
up,  is  the  most  important  and  usually  the 
least  expensive  work  in  which  missionaries  can 
engage. 

FAMILY   AND    NATIONAL   LINES. 

In  noting  the  progress  of  the  work  in  India 
our  missionaries  in  that  country  have  repeatedly 
called  attention  to  the  importance  of  following 
caste  and  family  lines.  Society  in  India  is  so 
stratified,  and  family  tics  are  so  carefully  recog- 
nized, that  the  missionaries  find  it  well  worth 
their  while  to  take  advantage  of  the  influence 
which  can  often  be  gained  through  the  attach- 
10 


142  MISSIONARY    POLITY. 

ments  of  kindred  or  the  respect  of  fellow-caste 
men.  In  doing  this  they  no  doubt  act  wisely, 
but  the  principle  underlying  their  action  has  a 
much  wider  application.  Beyond  the  family 
and  the  caste  is  the  nation,  and  when  we  be- 
gin to  build  up  new  Church  organizations  it 
will  be  found  not  only  the  best,  but  in  the 
end  the  only  possible,  policy  to  recognize  na- 
tional ties  and  to  build  on  national  lines.  This 
does  not  mean  that  there  must  be  an  absolute 
rupture  of  the  ecclesiastical  ties  which  bind 
Christians  of  different  countries  together,  but 
in  all  that  pertains  to  the  administration  of  the 
affairs  of  the  Church  the  principle  of  national 
autonomy  should  be  fully  recognized.  This 
need  not  in  the  slightest  degree  interfere  with 
the  question  of  intercommunion.  We  may  all 
remain  members  of  one  Church  and  yet  have 
an  ecclesiastical  system  so  flexible  that  the 
framework  of  the  Church  shall  be  constructed 
on  national  lines  and  the  people  within  the 
bounds  of  each  nation  or  empire  left  at  perfect 
liberty  to  move  and  act  in  harmony  with  the 
traditions  and  national  instincts  of  the  people. 
Every  step  in  the  direction  of  such  a  consum- 
mation is  a  step  wisely  taken,  and  we  have 
now  reached  a  stage  in  our  missionary  prog- 
ress where  the  general  principle  should  be  for- 
mally adopted  and  placed  among   the  things 


MISSIONARY    POLITY.  1 43 

which  are  settled  beyond  the  need  of  further 
discussion. 

The  subject  chosen  for  this  lecture  is  one 
which  suggests  so  many  practical  questions 
and  covers  such  broad  ground  that  its  discus- 
sion might  be  extended  almost  indefinitely; 
but  suffice  it  to  say,  in  conclusion,  that  mis- 
sionaries at  the  front  should  be  given  a  wide 
discretion  in  the  face  of  new  emergencies,  and 
that  they  should  be  courageous  enough  to  ven- 
ture upon  new  courses  of  action  when  a  clear 
case  of  emergency  arises.  But  they  should  pa- 
tiently wait  upon  God,  and  never  make  haste 
to  anticipate  a  new  departure.  A  missionary 
in  quest  of  an  emergency  is  usually  a  danger- 
ous man.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  those  who 
refuse  to  recognize  changed  conditions,  who 
cannot  perceive  the  hand  of  Providence,  who 
pervert  every  temporary  or  local  rule  into  a 
letter  which  killeth,  become  obstructive  instead 
of  helpful,  and  hinder  growth  instead  of  pro- 
moting it.  As  the  great  movement  goes  for- 
ward no  doubt  some  very  unlooked-for  devel- 
opments will  present  themselves  ;  but  we  may 
well  assure  ourselves  that  God  will  keep  men 
at  the  front  who  will  prove  equal  to  the  de- 
mands of  every  crisis,  and  that  no  great 
disaster  will  be  permitted  to  befall  a  cause 
around  which  cluster   the  best  interests,  not 


144  MISSIONARY    POLITY. 

only  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  but  of  the  hu- 
man race. 

The  importance  of  giving  more  attention  to 
questions  of  missionary  polity  becomes  the 
most  apparent  when  we  consider  tlie  immense 
expansion  of  all  missionary  interests,  both  at 
home  and  abroad,  which  may  be  anticipated 
with  absolute  certainty  in  the  not  very  distant 
future.  Many  of  those  present  in  this  audience 
will  live  to  see  missionary  societies  with  an  an- 
nual revenue  of  ten  million  dollars  or  more. 
They  will  live  to  see  such  societies  each  main- 
taining two  or  three  thousand  American  mis- 
sionaries in  foreign  lands,  with  indigenous 
forces  amounting  to  perhaps  fifty  thousand  for 
each  such  great  society.  They  will  live  to  see 
the  day  when  a  million  converts  will  be  re- 
ported in  a  single  year,  and  when  schools  and 
colleges,  hospitals  and  presses,  and  civilizing 
agencies  of  many  kinds  will  be  constantly 
springing  into  existence  in  all  the  ends  of  the 
earth.  In  the  face  of  such  startling  contingen- 
cies we  of  the  present  day  cannot  afford  to 
leave  to  our  successors  a  careless,  shortsighted 
policy  of  mere  drift.  God  expects  us  to  hold 
the  helm  as  the  bark  which  carries  us  moves 
on  its  way,  and  we  should  not  only  recognize 
our  duty,  but  be  keenly  alive  to  all  that  such  a 
comprehensive  obligation  implies. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  MISSIONS. 


NEW   TESTAMENT   MISSIONS. 

THE  modern  missionary  enterprise  is  both 
new  and  old.  It  is  new  in  that  it  dates 
its  origin  only  a  century  back;  and  it  is  old  in 
that  it  justly  claims  identity  with  the  great 
work  authorized  by  our  Saviour  and  inaugu- 
rated by  his  apostles — the  evangelization  of  all 
nations.  It  is,  in  fact,  the  resumption  of  a 
great  work  which  had  in  a  large  measure  been 
discontinued,  and  hence  we  very  naturally  turn 
to  New  Testament  precedents  when  anxious  to 
determine  the  best  course  to  be  pursued  in  the 
prosecution  of  the  work  at  the  present  day. 
In  all  missionary  discussions  it  is  extremely 
common  to  hear  appeals  made  to  the  prece- 
dents established  by  apostolic  authority,  or  to 
the  policy  adopted  throughout  the  Christian 
Churches  of  the  world  in  the  early  days  of  Chris- 
tianity. Some  of  these  appeals  are  wisely 
taken,  but  in  other  cases  the  precedents  are 
not  so  clearly  applicable  to  the  present  era. 
In  some  important  respects  primitive  Chris- 
tianity occupied  different  ground,  and  was 
charged  with  a  different  mission  from  that  in- 
trusted to  the  Church  of  the  present  day  ;  and 


148  NEW    TESTAMENT    MISSIONS. 

iii  order  cicail}'  to  understand  how  far  we  are 
to  be  governed  by  New  Testament  precedents, 
these  points  of  difference  must  be  carefully 
noted. 

First  of  all,  Ave  remember  that  while  the 
Christians  of  the  first  century,  like  those  of  our 
day,  had  a  full  share  in  the  commission  to  evan- 
gelize the  M'orld,  ihey  had  a  still  higher  com- 
mission, to  inaugurate  a  new  dispensation  and 
to  establish  a  new  religion  among  men.  They 
became  the  medium  of  a  new  revelation  of 
God's  will  to  the  race,  and  hence  were  privi- 
leged in  some  respects  be}'ond  any  of  the  gen- 
erations which  have  succeeded  them.  The 
gift  of  miracles  belongs  to  that  era,  for  the  sim- 
ple reason  that  the  great  work  of  completing 
God's  revelation  had  been  committed  to  them. 
It  is  a  great  mistake  to  assume,  as  is  so  often 
done,  that  the  power  to  work  miracles  belongs 
to  the  whole  of  the  Old  Testament  dispensa-' 
tion.  So  far  from  it,  as  far  as  the  records  show, 
it  was  only  when  one  or  more  pages  were  to  be 
added  to  God's  revealed  word,  and  notably 
when  a  higher  dispensation  was  to  be  intro- 
duced, that  the  gift  of  miracles  was  freely  be- 
stowed upon  God's  servants.  Sometimes  cen- 
turies elapsed  without  any  display  of  such  a 
gift.  With  the  completion  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment this  gift  seems  to  have  permanently  dis- 


NEW    TESTAMENT    MISSIONS.  I49 

appeared,  and  we  have  no  reason  to  expect  its 
reappearance.  The  supernatural  remains,  but 
the  strictly  miraculous  no  longer  appears.  The 
gift  of  prophecy  in  its  New  Testament  sense 
remains,  but  the  old  prophets,  who  announced 
changes  of  dispensations  and  who  added  burn- 
ing pages  to  God's  inspired  word,  will  no  more 
appear  among  men.  No  new  religion  is  to  be 
established,  no  new  revelation  given,  no  new  dis- 
pensation ushered  in,  and  hence  we  cannot  ap- 
peal to  any  precedents  which  were  dependent 
on  the  exceptional  character  of  the  apostolicage. 
I  trust  that  no  one  will  misunderstand  me 
at  this  point.  While  maintaining  that  certain 
gifts  do  not  belong  to  the  present  age,  and  that 
the  peculiar  mission  of  the  first  Christians  was 
not  only  to  propagate  Christianity,  but  also  to 
establish  it  as  a  living  faith  among  men,  I  do 
not  for  a  moment  wish  to  intimate  that  we  are 
less  highly  favored  than  the  early  Christians 
were,  or  that  success  in  winning  souls  is  a  more 
difficult  task  than  it  was  in  the  New  Testament 
times.  The  two  eras  differ,  but  the  balance  of 
advantage  is  unquestionably  with  us  of  the 
present  generation.  No  living  man  can  repeat 
the  miracles  of  Peter  or  Paul,  but  thousands 
can  do  greater  things  in  pulling  down  Satan's 
stronghold  and  building  up  the  kingdom  of 
Christ  among  men.     No  living  man  can  find  a 


150  NEW   TESTAMENT   MISSIONS. 

Patmos  from  which  to  gaze  upon  the  subhme 
visions  which  John  beheld,  but  thousands  of 
modern  disciples  are  so  illuminated  by  the 
Spirit  that  the  whole  earth  becomes  their  Pat- 
mos, and  life  is  to  them  one  long  vision  of  the 
tearless  and  deathless  world  toward  which  they 
are  journeying.  We  of  the  present  day  need 
no  miracle-working  power;  we  need  not  even 
one  additional  page  of  revelation  ;  and  we  are 
fully  equipped,  so  far  as  God's  provision  is  con- 
cerned, for  whatever  duties  and  responsibilities 
await  us  in  life. 

But  v/hile  we  are  careful  to  remember  the 
points  of  difference  between  the  first  and  the 
present  era  of  Christianity,  v/e  may  at  the  same 
time  find  many  points  of  sameness  between 
them,  and  I  trust  be  able  to  draw  some  valu- 
able lessons  from  the  first  pioneers  of  evangeli- 
zation. Some  features  of  the  work  in  New 
Testament  times  must  belong  to  a  healthy  con- 
dition of  missionary  work  in  all  ages ;  and  a 
careful  study  of  these  special  features  cannot 
fail  to  supply  us  with  timely  lessons  for  the 
mission  fields  of  the  present  day. 

ROMAN  AND   BRITISH   EMPIRES. 

Before  proceeding  to  notice  those  features 
of  New  Testament  missions  which  most  interest 
us  at  the  present  time,  I  wish  briefly  to  call  your 


NEW    TESTAMENT    MISSIONS.  15I 

attention  to  a  remarkable  providential  develop- 
ment in  the  political  world  which  corresponds  in 
a  striking  manner  to  the  influence  of  the  Roman 
empire  at  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era. 
It  has  often  been  pointed  out  that,  while 
steadily  hostile  to  the  new  faith,  the  Roman 
power  was  on  the  whole  favorable  to  the  rapid 
and  wide  extension  of  the  Christian  religion. 
The  general  influence  of  such  a  power  was 
favorable  in  many  ways.  It  opened  up  wide 
regions  which  would  otherwise  have  been  un- 
known. It  broke  down  barriers  which  would 
otherwise  have  been  impassable  ;  it  built  great 
highways  to  connect  the  nations;  it  gave  the 
great  Roman  world  a  knowledge  of  two  copious 
and  flexible  languages,  one  of  which  became 
the  vehicle  of  political,  and  the  other  of  reli- 
gious, ideas.  It  tolerated  superstition,  and  yet 
dealt  rude  blows  upon  many  superstitious  no- 
tions. It  prepared  the  way  for  a  widespread 
movement  such  as  the  new  religion  was  des- 
tined to  become,  and  thus,  even  when  bitterly 
persecuting  Christianity,  unconsciously  pre- 
pared a  way  for  it. 

The  British  empire  is  to  one  half  the  modern 
world  what  the  Roman  empire  was  to  Europe 
and  all  the  Mediterranean  basin  at  the  birth  of 
Christianity.  It  covers  three  times  as  much 
territory  and    includes    three   times  as  many 


152  NEW    TESTA]\IENT    MISSIONS. 

people  as  the  Roman  empire  did  in  the  time 
of  its  greatest  power;  but,  unHke  Rome,  Eng- 
land has  long  since  ceased  to  oppose  the  mis- 
sionary enterprise,  and  wherever  her  flag  waves 
the  Christian  missionary  feels  secure  beneath 
its  folds.  Nothing  in  the  whole  range  of  mod- 
ern history  is  more  remarkable  than  the  man- 
ner in  which  this  great  empire  has  grown  up  to 
its  present  colossal  proportions,  and  no  one  who 
believes  in  the  conversion  of  the  human  race 
can  doubt  that  a  wisdom  higher  than  that  of 
man  and  a  power  greater  than  that  of  human 
arms  have  planned  its  framework  and  raised  it 
to  its  present  commanding  position,  not  only 
that  it  might  become  a  great  civilizing  agenc}', 
but  that  it  should  especially  prepare  the  way 
for  a  great  missionary  era.  And  not  only  is 
this  great  empire  thus  preparing  the  mission- 
ary's way,  but  nearly  all  the  European  powers 
are  now  beginning  to  take  a  part  in  a  similar 
movement.  It  is  true  that  no  other  power  is 
so  well  fitted  to  deal  with  missionary  interests, 
but  we  have  now  reached  a  point  in  the  prog- 
ress of  the  world  when  religious  liberty  may  be 
regarded  as  the  law  of  all  nations  pretending 
to  maintain  a  high  standard  of  civilization,  and 
hence  few,  if  any,  European  powers  will  here- 
after oppose  the  missionary  movement.  The 
extension  of  European  power  in  Africa  means, 


NEW    TESTAMENT    IMISSIONS.  I  53 

for  four  fifths  of  the  continent,  rehgious  Hberty 
t(j  the  convert  and  personal  protection  to  the 
missionary.  Wc  thus  sec  the  modern  mission- 
ary placed  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  same  po- 
litical advantages  A\hich  the  first  Christians 
enjoyed,  without  the  many  serious  hindrances 
which  were  inseparable  from  the  presence  of  a 
hostile  political  power. 

THE  ANGLO-SAXON  DISPERSION. 

We  are  all  acquainted  with  the  extraordinary 
dispersion  of  the  Jewish  people  throughout  the 
Roman  world  at  the  time  that  Christianity 
began  its  outward  movement.  In  every  city 
was  a  Jewish  colony, and,  although  the  majority 
of  these  people  greeted  the  first  missionaries 
with  fierce  opposition,  yet  none  the  less  did 
the  more  worthy  members  of  the  community 
lend  valuable  aid  in  procuring  them  an  audience 
and  thus  becoming  a  connecting  link  between 
the  strangers  and  the  heathen  communities. 
No  one  can  doubt  that  God's  hand  directed 
the  movement  of  these  self-exiled  Jews  so  as 
to  make  them  serve  an  important  purpose  as 
intermediaries  between  the  early  Christians 
and  the  outer  world.  But  if  wc  see  a  provi- 
dence in  this  ancient  dispersion  of  the  Hebrew 
people,  how  much  more  ought  we  to  recognize 
a  divine  purpose  in  the  much  more  extraordi> 


154  NEW   TESTAMENT    MISSIONS. 

nary  dispersion  of  the  English-speaking  people 
throughout  the  whole  world  at  the  present 
time?  Not  only  in  the  colonies  and  great  de- 
pendencies of  England,  but  in  all  other  places, 
in  every  great  city,  in  every  newly  opened 
region,  along  every  civilized  coast,  in  every 
great  resort  of  pleasure,  these  people  are  found 
in  constantly  increasing  numbers.  In  many 
places  they  do  not  lead  lives  which  are  helpful 
to  the  missionary,  and  not  infrequently  it 
happens  that  a  feeling  of  hostility  grows  up 
between  the  missionaries  and  their  secular 
neighbors.  This  is  much  to  be  regretted,  and 
is  by  no  means  necessary  in  every  case.  The 
English-speaking  communities  can  often  be 
transformed  into  valuable  auxiliaries  to  the 
missionary,  and  in  every  case  their  spiritual 
welfare  should  be  sought  with  unquestioning 
earnestness.  God  has  put  them  where  they 
are,  and  they  are  not  to  be  neglected.  In  our 
own  work  in  India  the  limited  attention  be- 
stowed upon  these  people  has  been  richly  re- 
paid, and  in  other  parts  of  the  world  it  is  nearly 
certain  that  like  efforts  would  produce  like 
results.  It  is  certain  that  the  Anglo-Saxon 
dispersion  of  the  present  day  will  go  on  increas- 
ing through  the  coming  century ;  and  since  the 
influence  of  these  people  must  tell  for  good  or 
ill  in   every  land,  it  should  be  accepted  as  a 


NEW    TESTAMENT    MISSIONS.  I  55 

part  of  the  general  missionary  work  to  be  done 
that  they  should  be  sought  out  in  every  place 
and  in  every  possible  way,  and  not  only  brought 
to  Christ,  but  transformed  into  missionary 
auxiliaries.  In  recognizing  these  people  and 
in  seeking  their  spiritual  good  we  shall  surely 
be  following  the  example  of  the  missionaries 
of  the  New  Testament  era,  with  a  much  better 
prospect  of  success  than  Barnabas  and  Saul 
enjoyed  in  their  efforts  for  their  countrymen 
while  pursuing  their  great  missionary  work. 

SPIRITUAL   STANDARD. 

Turning  now  to  the  more  direct  lessons 
which  the  modern  missionary  can  learn  from 
the  workers  of  the  New  Testament  era  let  us 
notice,  first  of  all,  the  high  spiritual  standard 
which  was  not  only  set  up  in  the  beginning, 
but  maintained  throughout  at  least  the  age  of 
the  apostles  and  their  associates.  I  do  not 
refer  to  the  miraculous  element  in  any  of  its 
manifestations,  but  rather  to  the  presence  of 
an  active  spiritual  life  in  the  several  churches, 
a  life  so  distinct  from  any  other  animating 
principle  known  in  the  society  of  that  day  as 
to  impress  those  who  were  brought  under  its 
influence  with  a  conviction  of  its  divine  origin. 
This  life  was  nothing  less  than  the  presence 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  dwelling  in  his  fullness  in 


156  NEW   TESTAMENT    MISSIONS. 

believing  hearts,  and  creating  those  outward 
manifestations  which  mark  out  vital  Christian- 
ity as  distinct  from  all  other  religious  sys- 
tems and  forms  known  among  men.  It  was 
the  vital  element  in  Pentecost  reproduced  in 
other  places,  and  so  exhibited  to  the  body  of 
believers  everywhere  as  to  indicate  God's  plan 
and  purpose  to  make  his  Church,  in  all  places 
and  all  ages,  a  reproduction  of  the  living  and 
energetic  Church  of  the  original  Pentecost. 
I  do  not  mean  that  every  church  organized  by 
Paul  and  his  associates  was  an  exact  copy  of 
the  first  organization  in  Jerusalem  previous  to 
the  death  of  Stephen  ;  but  it  would  seem  that 
in  every  place  the  standard  set  up  was  that  of 
the  original  Pentecost.  In  the  house  of  Cor- 
nelius at  Ephesus,  and  even  in  Samaria,  we 
have  circumstantial  accounts  of  the  descent 
of  the  Spirit  upon  believers  in  the  pentecostal 
measure,  and  from  a  hundred  incidental  re- 
marks it  becomes  perfectly  clear  that  this 
spiritual  standard  was  well  known  everywhere, 
and  recognized  as  the  ordinary  privilege  as 
well  as  the  rule  of  life  to  be  adopted  by  the 
whole  body  of  Christian  workers.  In  many 
places  a  much  lower  standard  was  no  doubt 
tolerated,  but  the  better  rule  Avas  well  known, 
and  no  doubt  illustrated  in  the  lives  and  la- 
bors of  multitudes  of  the  early  Christians. 


NEW    TESTAMENT    MISSIONS.  1 57 

The  modern  missionary  should  be  not 
merely  a  pious  and  devoted  man,  but  one  who 
has  the  "  spiritual  mind,"  who  walks  in  the 
Spirit,  and  not  only  teaches  correct  doctrine 
concerning  the  person  and  offices  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  but  has  proved  in  his  own  person  that 
living  mortals  can  and  do  become  the  temples 
of  the  living  God.  The  standing  miracle  of 
Christianity  is  the  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
in  the  hearts  of  believers.  The  missionary  who 
has  ceased  to  expect  the  reappearance  of  the 
old  time  miracles  is  the  last  man  living  to 
venture  to  dispense  with  this  gift  of  the 
Spirit,  which  makes  life  one  long  miracle  and 
clothes  the  believer  with  privileges  and  powers 
which  pertain  not  merely  to  the  miraculous 
but  even  to  the  divine.  The  world  can  recog- 
nize the  presence  of  a  hidden  power  in  the 
possessor  of  such  a  gift,  and  it  was  this  indwell- 
ing Spirit  of  whom  Jesus  spoke  when  he 
promised  that  special  power  should  be  given 
to  those  of  all  ages  who  should  become  his 
accredited  witnesses. 

VIVIFYING   LIFELESS   COMMUNITIES. 

In  the  modern  mission  field  it  often  happens 

that  a    large    Christian   community   is    found 

apparently  destitute,   or  almost   destitute,  of 

all  manifestations  of  spiritual  life.     Those  who 

U 


158  NEW    TESTAMENT   MISSIONS. 

have  to  deal  with  such  communities  are  often 
discouraged  and  distressed  because  all  their 
efforts  to  lift  them  to  a  higher  plane  seem  to 
fail.  In  such  cases  regret  is  often  expressed 
that  such  unworth}^  persons  were  ever  bap- 
tized. All  efforts  to  do  them  good  seemed  to 
prove  fruitless.  What  is  to  be  done  in  such 
cases?  There  is  hope  in  every  such  case  if 
only  what  I  might  call  a  little  Pentecost  can 
be  introduced  at  some  one  point  among  the 
people.  The  average  standard  may  be  de- 
plorably low,  but  if  the  New  Testament  stand- 
ard is  also  there  the  condition  of  such  a 
community  is  by  no  means  hopeless.  Just  at 
this  point  we  find  the  secret  of  the  extraordi- 
nary power  of  the  early  Christian  leaders. 
Some  of  the  communities  were  deplorably 
imperfect,  but  none  of  them  were  wholly 
formal.  An  element  of  life  was  found  ever}-- 
where,  and  this  made  it  possible  to  contend 
against  evil  and  to  lead  the  people  into  a  bet- 
ter and  more  spiritual  life. 

So  far  as  Christian  history  teaches  us  there 
is  only  one  way  of  introducing  this  spiritual 
life  into  a  community.  It  must  be  done  by 
living  messengers  of  Christ.  The  modern 
missionary,  like  those  of  the  first  generation, 
should  be  anointed  for  this  work,  and  should 
know  by  a  personal  experience  what  the  in- 


NEW    TESTAMENT    MISSIONS.  I  59 

dwelling  of  the  Spirit  in  the  heart  really  means. 
He  is  one  of  those  who  must  ever  be  like  a 
city  set  upon  a  hill  which  cannot  be  hid. 
Hundreds  and  thousands  will  watch  him  and 
imitate  him.  He  can  stand  upon  his  height  and 
beckon  to  those  below  to  come  up  to  him,  but 
he  cannot  stand  below  and  induce  anyone  to 
go  up  alone.  The  standard  of  Barnabas  and 
Paul,  of  Peter  and  John,  should  be  his  stand- 
ard. The  world  can  never  be  made  either  to 
fear  or  respect  a  lower  one.  If  he  will  walk  in 
the  Spirit,  be  clothed  with  the  power  of  the 
Spirit,  and  demonstrate  by  the  example  of  a 
quiet,  simple,  and  holy  life  that  he  lives  in 
touch  with  the  invisible  world,  and  that  he  is 
endued  with  a  stixngth  which  is  more  than 
mortal,  men  and  Vvomcn  will  be  arrested  by 
his  words  and  led  by  him  into  the  light  and 
freedom  of  anew  and  better  life.  The  mission 
fields  of  to-day  need  this  New  Testament 
standard  of  spiritual  life  and  power.  The 
Churches  of  Christendom  need  it,  and  the  hope 
of  the  future  is  dependent  upon  its  recognition 
and  acceptance  everywhere. 

THE   C.\LL   TO   SERVICE. 

Another  lesson  can  be  learned  in  the  stud\" 
of  primitive  missions  by  observing  the  general 
character  of  the  workers  employed.     I   have 


l6o  NEW    TESTAMENT    MISSIONS. 

spoken  of  their  spiritual  equipment,  but  they 
possessed  other  quaHfications  which  pecuh'arly 
fitted  them  for  their  work.  Foremost  among 
these  I  would  put  the  c.ill  to  service  which 
they  received.  This  would  seem  to  have  been 
as  clear  and  unmistakable  as  the  prior  call  to 
discipleship.  It  is  strikingly  illustrated  in  the 
case  of  Barnabas  and  Paul  at  Antioch,  but  not 
in  that  instance  alone.  The  Book  of  Acts 
abounds  in  illustrations  of  the  fact  that  the 
call  and  guidance  of  the  Spirit  were  similarly 
recognized  in  the  apostolic  days,  not  only  in 
what  might  be  called  missionary  work,  but 
in  every  department  of  Christian  labor  and 
duty.  Nor  was  this  dependence  upon  the 
Holy  Spirit  intended  to  be  an  exceptional 
privilege  of  that  exceptional  age.  God  still 
calls  and  sends  forth  his  messengers,  and  the 
modern  missionary  of  all  men  should  be  a  man 
sent  from  God.  He  should  go  to  his  distant 
field  with  a  clear  and  settled  conviction  that  he 
is  a  messenger  of  God,  an  ambassador  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  that  he  has  no  more  right  to  diso- 
bey his  calling  than  he  has  to  wreck  his  soul 
by  abandoning  the  service  of  God  and  going 
into  the  ways  of  sin  and  death. 

There  is  a  twofold  danger  to  be  guarded 
against  at  this  point.  On  the  one  hand, 
some    who    are    called   of  God  to    missionary 


NEW    TESTAMENT    MISSIONS.  l6l 

service  may  close  their  ears  to  the  divine  voice 
and  shut  their  eyes  to  the  divine  tokens  by 
which  they  would  otherwise  be  guided  into  the 
mission  field.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  a 
growing  impression  among  a  certain  class  of 
young  men  that  in  at  least  some  mission  fields 
a  comfortable  domestic  life,  and  a  not  very 
exacting  service,  awaits  the  missionary;  and 
the  work  is  accepted  as  upon  the  whole  more 
desirable  than  a  home  pastorate,  especially 
with  its  uncertainties  in  the  case  of  those 
whose  pulpit  gifts  are  moderate.  May  the 
God  of  all  mercies  forever  spare  us  from  the 
presence  of  men  and  women  who  are  induced 
to  enter  the  foreign  field  from  such  considera- 
tions as  these  !  A  perfunctory  missionary,  one 
who  performs  a  certain  routine  of  duty  because 
it  chances  to  fall  to  his  lot,  but  whose  soul  is 
stirred  by  no  sense  of  a  hallowed  call  to  duty, 
whose  heart  glows  with  no  love  for  the  work 
assigned  to  him,  whose  ear  is  deaf  to  the  Spirit's 
whispers,  and  whose  eye  is  blind  to  the  sweet 
tokens  by  which  our  loving  Father  so  often 
guides  his  children,  is  out  of  place  in  the  mis. 
sion  field,  and  in  many  cases  his  influence  will 
be  found  adverse  to  the  best  interests  of  the 
Avork.  He  may  be  a  good  man,  in  the  ordi- 
nary sense  of  the  word  good,  but  he  is  out  of 
place,  and,  however  little  he  may  intend  it,  he 


l62  NEW    TESTAMENT    >.IISSIONS. 

will  often  be  found  to  fail  in  times  of  peculiar 
peril,  and  thus  brin<T  lasting  injury  to  the  cause 
which  he  is  expected  to  serve. 

MEN   OF   THE   PEOPLE. 

It  is  further  worthy  of  note  that  the  mission- 
aries of  the  New  Testament  era  were  men 
of  the  people.  They  were  accused  by  their 
enemies  of  being  "  ignorant  and  unlearned  ;  " 
but  this  does  not  seem  to  have  been  true  in 
any  proper  sense  of  the  words  employed. 
They  were  not  professional  teachers  of  re- 
ligion ;  they  liad  not  studied  in  the  professional 
schools  of  the  day  ;  they  did  not  conform  to 
the  popular  standards  observed  by  the  religious 
conventionalism  of  that  age ;  but  they  fully 
and  faithfully  represented  the  mass  of  the 
people  among  wdiom  they  lived,  and  in  doing 
so  illustrated  one  of  the  most  important 
qualifications  which  a  missionary  can  possess. 
The  missionary  who  leaves  his  native  land  to 
become  a  dweller  among  a  people  who  are 
alien  to  him  both  by  race  and  language,  must 
at  best  labor  under  a  great  disadvantage  in 
this  respect ;  but  he  can  do  much  to  lessen  it. 
During  my  first  year  in  India  a  friend  said  to 
me,  "  If  you  want  to  enjoy  the  confidence  of 
these  people  you  must  learn  to  give  the  soft 
sound  to  your  t's  and  d's."     His  meaning  was 


NEW  testa:\ient  missions.         163 

that  I  must  not  only  Icani  their  language,  but 
learn  to  speak  it  as  they  did,  and  especially  to 
avoid  those  peculiarities  which  mark  the 
speech  of  foreigners.  Every  missionary  should 
study  not  only  to  master  the  language  of  the 
people  among  whom  he  lives,  but  to  enter 
into  their  life,  to  acquaint  himself  with  their 
v/orks  of  thought,  their  social  organization, 
their  fears  and  prejudices,  their  likes  and  dis- 
likes, and  above  all  to  enter  into  their  sym- 
pathies and  make  their  interests  his  own. 

But  the  New  Testament  does  not  reveal  to 
us  the  character  and  work  of  what  we  call  the 
foreign  missionary  so  much  as  that  of  the  men 
raised  up  in  the  field,  or,  to  borrow  a  modern 
term,  of  the  "  native  preachers."  So  far  as  can  be 
gleaned  from  the  very  brief  record  of  the  times 
it  would  seem  that  these  men  were,  in  the 
main,  representatives  of  the  common  people. 
They  belonged  to  no  priestly  order,  they  repre- 
sented no  caste,  they  were  pupils  of  no  school 
of  philosophy,  science,  or  religion.  They  were 
inducted  into  their  work  in  the  most  informal 
manner.  So  far  as  can  be  learned  it  would 
seem  that  they  simply  grew  into  it,  and  when 
a  special  post  of  duty  was  vacant  a  man  who 
had  already  proved  his  fitness  for  the  duties 
required  was  put  into  the  vacant  post. 

In  every  mission  field  to-day  there  is  a  cry  for 


l64  NEW    TESTAMENT    MISSIONS. 

"  a  native  ministry."  This  is  perfectly  intelligi- 
ble and  reasonable.  Aliens  and  strangers  can- 
not permanently  be  kept  in  charge  of  a  work 
which  must  sooner  or  later  move  forward  on 
national  lines.  But  I  am  every  year  becoming 
more  impressed  that  very  many  friends  of  mis- 
sions have  a  very  wrong  ideal  before  their 
minds  when  the}'  talk  of  a  native  ministry. 
They  are  thinking  of  an  imitation  of  the  min- 
istry they  have  known  in  the  home  land,  and 
are  forgetting  that  a  ministry  adapted  to  the 
people  must  be  of  the  people,  and  hence  be 
kept  in  touch  ^^•ith  the  people.  It  is  very  easy 
to  take  young  men  from  the  ranks  of  the  com- 
mon people,  and  so  train  them  that  in  the 
course  of  a  few  years  they  will  become  per- 
manently separated  from  the  community  in 
which  they  were  born  and  brought  up.  The 
priest,  as  a  general  rule,  receives  this  kind  of 
training ;  but  the  prophet  ceases  to  be  a 
prophet  the  moment  he  allows  himself  to  be- 
come isolated  from  the  mass  of  his  fellowmen. 
When  we  talk  of  training  men  for  the  minis- 
try we  are  apt  to  forget  that  the  word  "  train- 
ing "  is  a  very  flexible  term.  In  one  case  it 
has  one  meaning,  and  in  another  case  another 
and  very  different  meaning.  A  young  man  may 
be  thoroughly  drilled  in  Hebrew  and  Greek, 
in  theology  and  philosophy,  in  logic  and  rhet- 


NEW   TESTAMENT    MISSIONS.  1 65 

oric,  in  literature  and  science,  and  yet  not 
know  how  to  preach  or  even  have  an  intelh'gent 
idea  of  what  preaching  really  means.  He  is 
trained,  but  not  to  do  the  work  of  a  preacher. 
Other  men  who  occupy  pulpits,  and  who  per- 
haps have  acquired  fame  as  preachers,  can  dis- 
course eloquently  in  the  pulpit,  but  they  cannot 
preach.  They  do  not  know  what  it  is  to  receive 
a  message  from  God  to  be  delivered  to  men  ; 
they  do  not  understand  what  is  meant  by  the 
anointing  of  the  Spirit,  and  they  do  not  ex- 
pect to  be  owned  of  God  in  the  conversion  of 
sinners  or  in  the  overthrow  of  wickedness. 
They  are  pulpit  orators,  but  not  anointed 
preachers.  They  are  gifted  men,  but  have  been 
badly  trained.  This  could  never  have  been  said 
of  either  the  leaders  or  the  general  body  of  the 
workers  in  New  Testament  times.  The  mis- 
sionaries of  the  period  were  men  who  knew 
their  work,  whatever  else  they  did  not  know  ; 
and  in  the  mission  fields  of  to-day  the  lesson 
which  their  example  teaches  should  not  be 
overlooked. 

MEETING   AN   EMERGENCY. 

In  recent  years  our  own  missionaries  in  In- 
dia have  been  brought  face  to  face  with  this 
question  under  somewhat  extraordinary  cir- 
cumstances.    At  a   time  when    every    native 


1 66  NEW   TESTAMENT   MISSIONS. 

preacher  and  teacher  was  ah-eady  fully  em- 
ployed, a  large  influx  of  utterly  untaught  new 
converts  began  to  appear  on  the  scene.  These 
converts  required  teaching,  and  could  not  be 
neglected.  To  leave  them  untaught  would 
have  been  tantamount  to  insuring  their  early 
defection  from  the  Christian  ranks.  Trained 
workers  there  were  absolutely  none.  One  ap- 
parently desperate  expedient  presented  itself, 
and  this  was  quickly  and  resolutely  adopted. 
A  selection  from  the  ranks  of  the  raw  con- 
verts was  made,  and  a  number  of  men  were 
set  apart  to  be  trained  in  the  work.  Many 
objections  could  easily  have  been  made  to  this 
course,  but  what  other  course  was  open  to  the 
perplexed  and  anxious  missionaries?  The  ex- 
periment was  tried,  and  while  the  result  has 
not  been  altogether  satisfactory,  it  has  yet 
been  infinitely  better  than  failure.  At  the 
present  time  several  hundred  of  these  almost 
illiterate  men  are  successfully  working  for  God 
among  a  class  of  their  countrymen  belonging 
to  their  own  social  rank,  and  peculiarly  acces- 
sible to  teachers  who  were  not  long  ago  their 
own  neighbors  and  associates.  When  speaking 
of  these  men  and  their  present  responsibilities, 
I  am  often  struck  by  the  surprise  and  even 
alarm  which  many  good  people  manifest  as 
they  hear  of  men  who  can  barely  read   doing 


NEW  testame:xt  xMissions.         167 

the  v/ork  of  Christian  preacliers.  Very  mar.y 
seem  ahnost  shocked  at  the  mere  mention  of 
such  a  thing,  and  make  no  hesitation  in  pre- 
dicting failure,  if  not,  indeed,  worse  than  failure, 
as  the  sure  result  of  so  unwise  a  course.  But, 
after  all,  are  these  men  necessarily  so  very  un- 
fit for  their  work?  They  do  not  know  much 
which  is  taught  in  the  theological  schools,  but 
they  do  know  their  own  people ;  they  know 
their  range  of  thought,  the  peculiar  character 
of  their  religious  notions,  the  prejudices  and 
fears  which  oppress  them,  the  dangers  which 
lie  across  their  pathwa}',  and  the  sins  which 
most  easily  beset  them.  The}'  can  interpret 
new  ideas  to  the  people  as  no  outsider  can, 
and  they  can  influence  and  lead  the  people  as 
no  other  living  man  can  do.  If  the  test  of  fit- 
ness for  the  work  is  success  in  work,  then  these 
men  may  well  present  very  fair  credentials  as 
accredited  laborers  in  the  vineyard  of  their 
Master. 

It  is  a  striking  comment  on  the  ease  with 
which  men  may  be  educated  above  their  work, 
that  already  we  find  young  preachers  in  India 
who  shrink  from  visiting  their  own  relatives. 
They  have  started  out  from  the  lowest  social 
level,  have  become  educated,  and  in  a  measure 
refined,  have  gained  recognition  in  the  social 
world  from  persons  of  high  standing  ;  and  now 


1 68  NEW    TESTAMENT    MISSIONS. 

they  do  not  wish  to  be  seen  among  their  own 
kindred  or  perhaps  to  cross  the  threshold  of 
the  mud-walled  hut  in  which  they  were  born 
and  reared.  You  need  not,  it  is  true,  go  to 
far-off  India  to  find  illustrations  of  this  kind. 
The  ineffable  meanness  which  makes  men  and 
women  hide  themselves  from  their  own  flcsli 
very  often  displays  itself  in  fashionable  society  ; 
but  it  is  nowhere  so  utterly  out  of  place  as 
when  seen  in  the  case  of  a  Christian  preacher, 
and  it  is  a  startling  fact  that  this  unmanly 
pride  is  sometimes  the  result  of  a  supposed 
"  training "  for  the  Christian  ministry.  This 
result  does  not  always,  or  even  often,  oc- 
cur, but  the  lesson  to  be  learned  is  none  the 
less  important.  Even  where  the  preacher 
does  not  demean  himself  to  this  extent,  it  too 
often  happens,  in  both  home  and  foreign  fields, 
that  he  becomes  wholly  unfitted  for  successful 
work  among  the  people  to  whom  he  himself 
belongs,  and  becomes  as  permanently  separated 
from  them  as  if  they  lived  on  another  planet. 

CHANGED   CONDITIONS. 

P^'om  the  workers  let  us  now  pass  on  to 
consider  the  work  of  the  missionary  in  those 
far-off  New  Testament  days.  Modern  educa- 
tion, with  all  that  the  term  implies,  had  not 
then   been   dreamed  of,  and  hence  there  was 


NEW    TESTAMENT    MISSIONS.  1 69 

no  educational  work  in  the  popular  sense  of 
the  word.  No  schoolhouses  had  to  be  built, 
no  text-books  prepared,  no  manuals,  maps,  or 
school  apparatus  of  any  kind  had  to  be  pro- 
vided. The  Sunday  school  had  not  yet  been 
born.  The  printing  press  was  unknown.  The 
civilization  of  the  field  of  operations  was  the 
highest  and  best  on  the  globe,  and  the  mis- 
sionaries had  neither  the  knowledge  nor  the 
skill,  even  if  they  had  possessed  the  inclination, 
to  introduce  industrial  enterprises  or  to  teach 
their  converts  the  elements  of  a  new  civiliza- 
tion. In  short,  the  work  in  those  days  was 
confined  within  very  narrow  bounds,  and  can 
be  easily  defined.  It  was  simply  the  task  of 
inducing  men  and  women  to  accept  Jesus 
Christ  as  a  personal  Saviour,  and  then  teaching 
them  carefully  how  to  walk  in  the  good  \v;iy 
and  accomplish  the  righteous  will  of  God.  In 
other  words,  the  early  ciisciples  devoted  them- 
selves to  making  converts,  organizing  churches, 
and  building  up  the  body  of  believers  in  the 
most  holy  faith  of  the  Gospel. 

One  feature  of  this  work  demands  our  spe- 
cial attention.  While  it  is  true  that  no  school- 
master was  to  be  found  among  the  mission- 
aries, the  teacher,  in  the  New  Testament  sense 
of  the  word,  was  found  everywhere,  and  on 
him  rested  a  very  grave  responsibility.    Teach- 


I/O  NEW    TESTAMENT    MISSIONS. 

ing  was  one  of  tlie  permanent  gifts  bestowed 
upon  the  Church  at  Pentecost,  and  its  exercise 
is  absokitcly  necessary  to  the  healthy  develop- 
ment of  every  Christian  community.  In  the 
apostolic  day  we  read  of  this  work  being  done 
from  house  to  house  and  being  extended  to 
every  man.  There  is  a  kind  of  personal  in- 
struction which  can  only  be  done  by  personal 
contact  of  man  with  man.  No  course  of  lec- 
tures, no  Bible  lessons,  no  catechetical  instruc- 
tions can  take  the  place  of  it.  God  has  from 
the  beginning  made  special  provision  for  the 
preservation  and  exercise  of  this  gift  in  the 
Church,  but,  like  other  gifts  more  precious  than 
gold  that  perisheth,  it  has  for  the  most  part 
been  sadly  neglected  in  the  past.  Where  it 
has  been  recognized  and  honored  it  has  uni- 
formly proved  unspeakably  valuable,  especially 
to  converts  in  the  early  days  of  their  service. 
Its  neglect  in  most  cases  by  the  modern  Church 
is  simply  amazing,  and,  in  the  face  of  the  ample 
provision  which  God  has  made  for  its  exercise 
and  the  clear  expression  of  his  will  concerning 
this  neglect,  seems  little  short  of  criminal. 

THE   TEACHERS   OF    NEW   TESTAMENT    TIMES. 

The  missionaries  of  our  day  would  do  well 
to  consider  carefully  the  practical  bearings 
of    this     subject.      Wherever  converts    begin 


NEW    TESTAMENT    MISSIONS.  171 

to  be  nuiTibered  by  the  thousand,  the  de- 
mand for  the  anointed  teacher  after  the 
New  Testament  pattern  becomes  exceed- 
ingly urgent.  The  teacher  in  the  schooh-oom 
has  his  work,  and  it  is  most  important;  but 
this  is  not  the  kind  of  work  to  which  I  refer. 
The  pastor  has  his  duties,  and  very  often  the 
gift  to  teach  is  found  among  the  other  gifts 
which  a  faithful  pastor  receives.  But  all  the 
school-teachers  and  pastors  combined  cannot 
meet  the  demand  for  spiritual  instruction 
which  inust  arise  when  large  numbers  of 
people  begin  to  turn  from  idols  to  the  living 
God.  They  must  be  taught  liow  to  pray,  how 
to  sing  God's  praises,  how  to  believe,  how  to 
order  a  Christian  household,  the  nature  of 
temptation  and  how  to  resist  it,  how  to  deal 
with  tlie  erring,  how  to  seek  the  wanderer,  and 
how,  by  careful  living,  to  adorn  the  Christian 
life  in  this  world  and  prepare  for  life  with  God 
in  the  world  to  come.  These  converts  at  the 
outset  know  almost  nothing,  and  it  is  only  by 
line  upon  line  and  precept  upon  precept  that 
they  can  be  kept  in  the  right  v/ay  and  led  to 
consistent  lives  spent  in  the  service  of  God. 

The  exigencies  of  our  work  in  India  during 
the  past  few  years  have  compelled  me  to  think 
much  on  this  subject.  All  our  missionaries 
and    native  preachers  and  teachers   combined 


172  NEW    TESTAMENT    MISSIONS. 

cannot  successfully  impart  this  kind  of  teaching 
to  the  multitudes  who  are  flocking  around  us, 
and  those  who  understand  the  situation  best 
are  at  times  almost  appalled  by  the  daily  in- 
creasing magnitude  of  the  problem  which  con- 
fronts us. 

In  this  emergency  we  can  find  most  light  by 
the  example  of  the  Christians  of  the  New 
Testament  era.  The  gift  of  teaching  was  not 
confined  to  a  select  few,  and  probably  was  be- 
stowed upon  very  considerable  numbers  of  the 
people.  It  is  more  than  probable  that  while 
the  great  distinctive  truths  of  the  new  faith 
were  announced  in  public  discourses,  the  de- 
tails, both  of  doctrine  and  of  practice,  were 
left  to  the  large  number  of  anointed  teachers 
who  were  raised  up  for  this  special  work  by  the 
direct  setting  apart  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Even 
in  our  day  we  may  often  see  illustrations  of 
this  kind  of  service  in  Christian  lands,  espe- 
cially in  connection  with  revival  movements. 
Men  and  women  who  occupy  no  official  posi- 
tions, and  lay  claim  to  no  special  aptitude  for 
Christian  work,  arc  often  successful  to  a  re- 
markable degree  in  helping  Inquirers  and  con- 
verts over  their  difficulties,  and  in  making 
straight  the  many  crooked  places  which  such 
beginners  always  meet  at  the  outset  of  their 
new  life.     If  it  be  said  that  as  a  Ereneral  rule 


NEW    TESTAMENT    MISSIONS.  1 73 

such  gifted  persons  are  not  often  met  with  in 
modern  congregations,  it  may  suffice  to  reply 
that  God  usually  bestows  his  gifts  upon  those 
who  seek  them,  and  especially  upon  those  who 
are  worthy  to  receive  them.  Let  the  want  be 
recognized,  and  God's  provision  for  its  supply 
duly  appreciated,  and  we  may  confidently  ex- 
pect this  New  Testament  gift  to  reappear  in 
our  modern  Christian  circles  as  certainly,  and 
in  as  full  measure,  as  in  apostolic  times.  If 
this  can  be  successfully  done  in  the  case  of  a 
great  movement  like  that  which  is  now  taking 
place  in  India,  it  will  add  immeasurably  to  the 
possibilities  of  the  missionary  world.  If  the 
common  believers,  or  any  considerable  number 
of  them,  can  be  enlisted  in  the  blessed  service 
of  caring  for  poor  feeble  converts,  and  halting, 
doubting  inquirers,  meeting  them  all  as  they 
come,  and  directing  their  first  efforts  to  adopt 
the  Christian  faith  and  the  Christian  life,  it  will 
become  possible  for  us  to  receive  thousands  and 
tens  of  thousands  of  the  people  without  fear 
of  any  adverse  consequences  to  the  Christian 
community  or  any  danger  to  the  converts 
themselves. 

PRESENT-DAY   CONVERTS. 

This   last   remark   suggests    another   topic. 
What  is  the  general  character  of  modern  con. 
13 


174  ^'EW    TESTAMENT    MISSIONS. 

verts,  especially  as  compared  with  those  of  the 
early  Church  ?  Do  the  present-day  con- 
verts come  up  to  the  New  Testament  standard, 
even  in  a  moderate  degree?  Do  not  mission- 
aries themselves  mourn  over  their  low  spiritual 
state  ?  And  is  it  not  perfectly  evident  that  the 
best  of  them  can  hardly  be  named  in  the  same 
connection  with  the  noble  communities  of 
devoted  Christian  men  and  women  who  were 
raised  up  under  the  preaching  of  the  apostles 
and  their  associates? 

Before  attempting  to  answer  these  questions, 
I  must  beg  to  be  allowed  to  say  a  few  words 
about  the  moral  and  spiritual  status  of  the  first 
Christians.  The  popular  idea  undoubtedly  is 
that  the  first  generation  of  Christians  presented 
beyond  question  the  best  type  of  Christian  life 
and  character  which  the  world  has  yet  seen  ; 
but  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  popular 
impression  on  this  subject  is  wholly  a  mistaken 
one.  In  the  first  place,  we  must  remember  that 
for  some  years  the  first  Christians  strictly  main- 
tained their  adherence  to  the  laws  and  customs 
of  Judaism.  No  Brahman  of  the  present  day 
is  more  scrupulous  in  observing  the  rules  of  his 
caste  than  were  the  first  saints  at  Jerusalem  in 
conforming  to  laws  and  prejudices  which  would 
not  now  be  tolerated  in  any  Christian  Church 
in  the  world.     In  the  next  place,  the  standard 


NEW    TESTAMENT    MISSIONS.  1 75 

of  moral  conduct  which  was  officially  adopted 
at  the  suggestion  of  James,  when  presiding 
over  the  council  at  Jerusalem,  was  by  no  means 
a  high  standard,  and  the  exactions  which  it 
demanded  of  the  Gentile  converts  were  of  the 
lightest  character.  In  the  brief  list  of  restric- 
tions mentioned  by  James  on  that  memorable 
occasion  we  find  no  reference  to  Sabbath  ob- 
servance, either  Jewish  or  Christian.  Gross 
sin  and  repulsive  food  were  forbidden,  but  no 
mention  was  made  of  various  matters  which 
are  now  considered  of  the  utmost  importance. 
It  is  evident,  too,  that  the  average  Christians  of 
that  day  had  a  very  fair  share  of  the  infirmities 
which  so  often  disfigure  the  lives  of  our  modern 
Christians.  The  pure  and  holy  men  and  women 
of  whom  we  hear  the  most  were  not  in  the  ma- 
jority, but,  as  always  happens  in  our  world,  tlie 
lives  of  the  preeminently  good  have  survived 
in  history,  while  the  unworthy  have  been  for- 
gotten. 

The  modern  convert  is  not  always  an  exem- 
plary man,  but  some  exemplary  men  may  be 
found  in  every  comiiumity  of  converts.  Some — 
I  am  thankful  to  be  able  to  say  many — are 
more  than  exemplary  ;  they  are  holy  in  life, 
devoted  in  spirit,  and  full  of  zeal  for  God  and 
immortal  souls.  The  leaven  of  moral  and  spir- 
itual progress  is  at  work  in  these  communities, 


176  NEW    TESTAMENT    MISSIONS. 

and  if  the  converts  are  not  all  model  Chris- 
tians, they  are  at  least  steadily  improving  in 
the  elements  which  make  up  a  good  Christian 
character.  It  is  quite  common  to  find  among 
them  a  hankering  after  former  practices,  and 
the  modern  missionary  often  lias  to  repeat  the 
admonition  of  John  to  his  spiritual  children,  to 
keep  themselves  from  idols.  Some  Christian 
duties  are  learned  slowly  and  observed  very 
imperfectly.  Chief  among  these  is  the  law  of 
Sabbath  rest.  Unlike  most  of  the  other  com- 
mandments of  the  Decalogue,  the  obligation 
of  the  Sabbath  is  wholly  dependent  on  a  spe- 
cial commandment.  It  is  not  written  on  the 
heart  by  the  Spirit  previous  to  hearing  the 
commandment.  Every  idolater  knows  that  it 
is  wrong  to  kill,  steal,  bear  false  witness,  com- 
mit adultery,  covet,  or  dishonor  parents  ;  but 
no  one  knows  until  taught  that  it  is  a  duty  to 
keep  every  seventh  day  holy.  The  natural  re- 
sult is  that  most  converts,  especially  those  who 
live  in  the  midst  of  vast  non-Christian  com- 
munities, learn  the  duty  of  Sabbath  observ- 
ance very  slowly,  and  it  is  more  than  prob- 
able that  in  this  respect  they  are  walking  in 
the  footsteps  of  the  early  Christians.  During 
a  whole  generation  of  the  first  converts  the 
practice  of  Sabbath  observance  was  by  no  means 
uniform.     Some  observed  Saturday  and  others 


NEW   TESTAMENT   MISSIONS.  1 77 

Sunday,  while  others  again  observed  both 
days.  The  majority  were  either  slaves  or  per- 
sons so  connected  with  non-Christian  parties 
as  to  be  under  a  measure  of  compulsion,  and 
hence  no  attempt  was  made  by  them  to  ob- 
serve any  day.  For  many  years  to  come  a 
similar  laxity  must  be  tolerated  in  non-Chris- 
tian countries.  Millions  are  so  bound  to  the 
soil,  or  so  obligated  to  the  village  communi- 
ties that  they  are  not  at  liberty,  and  for  many 
long  years  will  not  be  at  liberty,  to  conform  to 
outward  rules  of  living  which  have  been  uni- 
versally recognized  in  Christian  lands  for  many 
long  centuries. 

In  all  discussions  of  this  kind  we  should  re- 
member that  mere  conventionalism  is  often 
confounded  with  Christianity.  In  England  and 
America  certain  notions  prevail  with  reference 
to  public  worship  which  seem  inseparable  from 
Christianity  itself,  but  which  in  fact  have  very 
little  to  do  with  it.  Usage  quickly  gives  sanc- 
tity to  a  mere  custom  which  chances  to  be  as- 
sociated with  religion  ;  and  it  thus  happens  that 
recent  converts  from  heathenism  are  often 
judged  severely  for  their  ignorance  of  Chris- 
tianity when,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  they  are  only 
ignorant  of  the  religious  conventionalities  of 
the  day.  An  ordinary  Sunday  service  in  a 
fashionable   modern  church  bears  but  a  very 


178  NEW   TESTAMENT   MISSIONS. 

slight  resemblance  to  the  Lord's  Day  worship 
of  the  Christians  of  the  first  century.  The 
average  converts  in  India  and  China  have  many 
things  to  learn  from  their  English  and  Ameri- 
can brethren  ;  but  there  are  some  things  which 
they  might  profitably  teach  these  same  breth- 
ren, and  thereby  minister,  in  some  little  de- 
gree at  least,  to  their  edification. 

FLEXIBLE   ORGANIZATION. 

In  conclusion,  let  me  call  your  attention  to 
the  fact  that  in  the  missions  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment era  the  law  of  normal  progress  was  al- 
lowed to  have  free  progress,  and  the  rule  of 
one  day  did  not  necessarily  become  the  law  of 
all  succeeding  days.  The  work  was  always  re- 
garded as  greater  than  the  methods,  and  the 
leaders  advanced  step  by  step  as  the  provi- 
dential indications  of  the  time  pointed  out  the 
way.  The  missionaries  of  the  present  day 
must  do  likewise.  Some  things  cannot  be 
changed,  for  the  simple  reason  that  they  are 
forever  right ;  but  in  a  multitude  of  other  mat- 
ters the  law  of  Christian  liberty  must  be  rec- 
ognized to  its  fullest  extent.  The  Christian 
workers  of  the  world  have  learned  much,  but 
as  the  ages  pass  by  other  lessons  will  have 
to  be  learned  and  other  methods  introduced 
in  the  ever-multiplying  fields  throughout  the 


NEW    TESTAMENT    MISSIONS.  1 79 

world.  We  should  thank  God  for  the  many- 
New  Testament  precedents  which  are  guiding 
us  to-day ;  but  among  them  all  no  one  is  more 
to  be  prized  than  the  conspicuous  liberty  which 
was  given  to  adopt  new  methods  in  the  face  of 
new  emergencies.  In  this  liberty  all  Christian 
workers  should  be  careful  to  stand  fast. 


WAYSIDE   VIEWS. 


WAYSIDE   VIEWS. 

IT  has  fallen  to  my  lot  during  recent  years  to 
be,  not  exactly  a  wanderer  on  the  face  of 
the  earth,  and  yet  one  who  is  familiar  with  the 
full  meaning  of  the  phrase,  "In  journeyings 
oft."  From  January  to  December  there  is  no 
respite  from  the  calls  which  come  to  me  from 
both  sides  of  the  globe,  although  happily  there 
is  abundant  variety  in  the  path  along  which  I 
pursue  my  way,  with  new  scenes  constantly 
presenting  themselves  to  the  view  and  new 
lessons  constantly  impressing  themselves  on 
both  mind  and  heart.  Many  of  the  impres- 
sions thus  made  are  abiding.  A  brief  glimpse 
of  a  peculiar  situation,  or  of  special  features 
pertaining  to  an  otherwise  ordinary  work  which 
a  hurried  wayfarer  may  sometimes  catch  on 
his  journey,  is  often  of  unspeakable  value  in 
after  years. 

Thirty-six  years  ago  this  present  month  I 
left  my  native  land  to  become  a  foreign  mis- 
sionary, and  in  the  course  of  the  long  years 
which  have  since  passed  I  have  had  many  op- 
portunities for   observing  various  features  of 


1 84  WAYSIDE   VIEWS. 

the  work  both  at  home  and  abroad,  and  very 
naturally  have  become  deeply  impressed  by 
much  of  what  I  have  seen  and  heard,  especially 
in  recent  years.  Instead  of  selecting  a  special 
subject  for  this  closing  lecture  of  the  series,  it 
has  occurred  to  me  that  it  might  be  well  to 
call  your  attention  to  a  few  of  these  wayside 
views,  that  is,  to  observations  constantly  made 
in  the  ordinary  course  of  my  missionary  life. 

MISSIONARY   DEVOTION. 

First,  and  perhaps  most  important  of  all,  I 
may  say  that  the  experience  of  each  succeed- 
ing year  has  impressed  me  more  and  more  with 
the  importance  of  maintaining  a  high  standard 
of  missionary  devotion,  both  in  the  Church  at 
homeland  among  the  missionaries  abroad.  I 
do  not  wish  to  reflect  in  the  faintest  measure 
on  missionaries  who  have,  for  reasons  sufficient 
to  themselves,  permanently  returned  to  their 
native  land.  In  the  very  nature  of  the  case  it 
must  often  happen  that  good  and  devoted  men 
and  women  will  be  obliged  to  change  their 
plans  for  life,  and  we  may  easil}'  conceive  of 
circumstances  under  which  it  becomes  as  clearly 
one's  duty  to  give  up  the  foreign  field  as  it 
seemed  in  the  first  place  to  accept  the  call  to 
it.  Still,  I  have  often  been  unable  to  conceal 
from  myself  the  fact  that  many  who  bear  the 


WAYSIDE    VIEWS.  I  85 

title  of  missionary  fail  to  understand  the  full 
meaning  of  devotion  to  the  country  or  the 
work  to  which  they  are  sent.  Such  lack  of  de- 
votion may  be  found  in  the  field  as  well  as  out 
of  it ;  and  it  sometimes  happens  that  the  man 
and  wife  who  sorrowfully  turn  their  footsteps 
homeward  have  more  real  love  and  devotion  to 
its  interests  than  another  couple  who  content- 
edly remain  at  their  post  of  duty. 

In  any  ordinary  mission  field  a  class  of  Vv'ork- 
ers  will  be  found  who,  not  in  name  merely,  but 
in  very  deed,  belong  to  the  country  to  which 
they  have  been  sent.  They  make  its  interests 
their  own,  and  they  have  no  interests  of  their 
own  apart  from  the  work  to  which  they  have 
given  their  lives.  They  may  be  depended  upon 
in  all  possible  circumstances.  Tlie  value  of 
such  workers  is  beyond  all  price.  Devotion  in 
the  case  of  such  persons  has  a  practical  mean- 
ing, which  constantly  reminds  us  of  the  quality 
of  that  virtue  as  represented  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment. There  may  be  a  great  deal  of  religious 
feeling,  and  the  recognition  of  a  very  high 
ideal,  without  a  practical  manifestation  of 
Christian  devotion  in  the  New  Testament  sense 
of  the  word.  In  the  mission  field  abroad  we 
feel  the  need  of  men  and  women  who  belong 
to  the  country  of  their  adoption — men  and 
women  who  live  for  the  work  to  which  they 


lS6  WAYSIDE   VIEWS. 

profess  to  ha\"e  gi\'cn  their  lives,  and  who  are 
prepared  to  sacrifice  any  interest,  including  hfe 
itself,  if  their  work  seems  to  demand  it.  Such 
persons  do  not  live  in  a  country  merely — they 
are  wedded  to  it,  they  live  for  it,  and  would 
count  it  a  privilege  rather  than  a  misfortune 
to  be  permitted  to  find  their  graves  beneath  its 
soil. 

It  happens,  perhaps,  to  every  missionary 
during  the  earlier  years  of  his  service  that  he 
encounters  temptations  to  leave  his  work  and 
accept  inviting  positions  in  his  native  land. 
These  temptations  sometimes  become  the  more 
alluring  because  connected  with  positions  in 
which  he  will  still  seem  to  be  serving  the  cause 
which  he  has  at  heart,  or  his  private  affairs  may 
become  so  complicated  that,  under  the  circum. 
stances  in  which  he  is  placed,  a  return  to  his 
native  land  will  seem  to  him  justifiable.  If  all 
missionaries,  especially  those  who  possess  gifts 
which  would  fit  them  for  service  at  home,  were 
to  speak  frankly  they  would  tell  of  periods  in 
their  lives  when  they  have  encountered  such 
temptations,  and  perhaps  have  only  overcome 
them  after  a  struggle  ;  and  it  is  perhaps  owing 
to  the  fact  that  all  do  not  succeed  in  putting 
the  temptation  behind  them  that,  from  time  to 
time,  men  well  adapted  to  the  service  are  al- 
lured away.     I  need  hardly  say  that  in  nearly 


WAYSIDE   VIEWS.  1 8/ 

every  such  case  one  of  the  greatest  possible 
mistakes  which  a  man  can  make  is  committed, 
and  every  young  missionary  who  goes  abroad 
should  settle  the  question  in  his  heart  that 
nothing  but  a  call  as  imperative  as  that  which 
puts  him  in  the  work  shall  ever  turn  him  out 
of  it.  When  he  accepts  the  call  he  should  de- 
vote himself  so  unquestioningly  to  the  cause  to 
which  he  gives  his  life  that  it  will  be  useless 
for  man  or  devil  to  try  to  entice  him  away  from 
his  post  of  duty. 

SEPARATION   FROM    CHILDREN. 

There  is  one  phase  of  missionary  life  which 
in  hundreds  of  cases  puts  this  devotion  to  a 
test  of  unusual  severity,  and  makes  the  tempta- 
tion something  more  than  can  be  expressed  in 
ordinary  language.  In  nearly  all  tropical  mis- 
sion fields  it  is  found  necessary  for  the  best  in- 
terests of  the  children  of  missionaries  that  they 
be  sent  back  to  the  home  land  of  their  parents, 
not  only  to  secure  the  advantages  of  an  or- 
dinary education,  but  also  to  develop  their 
physical  strength  and  enable  them  to  reap  the 
many  advantages  which  are  secured  from  grow- 
ing up  in  the  midst  of  an  intelligent  Christian 
community.  Daily  contact  with  the  unfavor- 
able associations  in  the  midst  of  which  they  are 
placed  in  a  non-Christian  land  can  hardly  be 


l88  WAYSIDE   VIEWS. 

Otherwise  than  hurtful,  even  though  the  moral 
and  rehgious  character  of  the  child  be  carefully- 
guarded  by  the  most  watchful  of  parents.  In 
some  cases,  under  exceptional  circumstances, 
children  have  grown  up  in  these  tropical  fields 
without  seriously  deteriorating  in  their  health 
or  morals  ;  but,  as  a  general  rule,  parents  who 
wish  to  secure  the  highest  possible  advantages 
for  their  children — and  all  Christian  parents 
should  so  wish^ — will  feel  it  well,  sooner  or 
later,  to  send  those  who  are  as  dear  to  them  as 
life  itself  to  the  other  side  of  the  globe  for  a 
separation  which  sometimes  lasts  for  many  long 
and  weary  years.  When  we  speak  of  mission- 
ary trials,  this  is  perhaps  the  most  severe  that 
can  be  named.  To  the  children  themselves  it 
often  seems  morally  wrong  to  banish  them 
thus  from  what  to  them  seems  home.  Many 
good  people  in  England  and  America  are  led 
to  question  the  wisdom  of  this  course.  Not 
understanding  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  the 
case  they  hastily  assume  the  ground  that 
vi^herever  parents  live  children  ought  to  live, 
and  that  if  the  young  people  grow  up  in  the 
land  of  their  adoption  they  will  be  the  better 
fitted  for  usefulness  among  the  people  for  whom 
they  should  labor  after  their  parents  have  gone 
to  their  reward.  That  view  will  do  ideally,  but 
in  practical  life  it  will  fail  in  nine  cases  out  of 


V.'AVSIDE   VIEWS.  1 89 

ten.  Missionary  parents,  no  more  than  other 
parents,  can  decide  in  advance  whether  their 
children  will  be  adapted  for  the  work  in  which 
ihey  themselves  are  engaged.  The  children 
may  have  no  taste  or  aptitude  for  such  work, 
and  even  if  they  do  it  may  not  follow  that 
spending  childhood  and  youth  in  the  midst  of 
such  associations  is  the  best  way  for  qualifying 
them  for  the  highest  usefulness  in  coming 
years.  Very  many  missionaries  iind  themselves 
sooner  or  later  brought  face  to  face  with  our 
Saviour's  seemingly  harsh  condition,  that  those 
who  would  follow  him  obediently  as  disciples 
must  be  willing  to  forsake  all  things,  including 
children ;  but  there  is,  after  all,  less  of  hard- 
ness or  harshness  in  this  than  appears  on  the 
surface. 

In  the  first  place,  it  rarely  happens  that  the 
son  or  daughter  of  a  missionary  makes  ship- 
wreck of  morals  or  fails  to  do  well  in  a  general 
sense  in  after  life.  I  cannot  recall  a  single  in- 
stance of  children  who  have  been  thus  sent 
away  from  home  by  missionary  parents  who 
afterward  did  badly.  There  may,  of  course, 
have  been  a  few  such  cases ;  but  in  all  these 
years  during  which  I  have  been  brought  into 
contact  with  missionary  families  in  England, 
Germany,  and  the  United  States  I  have  failed 
to  find  a  single  example  of  the  kind.  On  the 
13 


IQO  WAYSIDE    VIEWS. 

other  hand,  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  special 
blessings  attend  both  parent  and  child  in  such 
cases,  and  that,  perhaps,  instead  of  being  the 
most  unfortunate  children  in  the  world,  these 
young  people  are  among  the  most  favored. 
We  cannot  but  feel  for  them,  and  I  only  men- 
tion the  subject  in  order  to  let  everyone  who 
contemplates  the  missionary  life  have  the  try- 
ing duty  placed  b«fore  his  mind  in  advance, 
lest,  when  the  time  of  trial  comes,  he  may  be 
tempted  to  forsake  his  post — as  not  a  few  mis- 
sionaries have  done — in  accordance  with  the 
idea  that  the  claims  of  his  children  release  him 
from  the  higher  obligations  which  he  assumes 
when,  in  obedience  to  God's  call,  he  devotes 
his  life  to  missionary  service. 

While  commending  a  high  standard  of  de- 
A'otion  to  all  friends  of  missions  at  home  and 
abroad,  I  must  not  omit  to  give  a  word  of  cau- 
tion as  to  the  quality  of  the  devotion  needed. 
One  of  the  wayside  views  which  has  aroused 
my  attention  has  been  that  not  a  few  devoted 
Christian  men  and  women,  all  of  them  pure 
and  good,  who  have  faith  to  attempt  great 
things,  but  who  fail  to  see  the  importance  of 
maintaining  an  intelligent  devotion.  Christian 
devotion  should  never  be  blind.  Every  mis- 
sionary should  remember  that  among  the  many 
STood  Gifts  of  God  to  his  children  is  that  of 


WAYSIDE    VIEWS.  I9I 

common  sense,  and  no  possible  measure  of  de- 
votion or  piety  can  justify  the  neglect  of  this 
gift  which  all  Christians,  even  more  than  oth- 
ers, constantly  need.  Both  at  home  and  abroad 
this  practical  truth  is  sometimes  forgotten.  In 
view  of  what  I  have  witnessed,  "at  sundry 
times  and  in  divers  places,"  I  feci  constrained 
to  say  that  too  many  very  earnest  people 
allow  themselves  to  be  seriously  misled  by 
neglecting  the  exercise  of  sanctified  common 
sense.  It  is  not  wise,  it  is  not  right  to  send  a 
party  of  young  missionaries  into  pestilential 
regions  before  anyone  has  explored  the  coun- 
try and  before  a  suitable  place  has  been  found 
for  a  settlement.  It  is  not  wise,  and  it  cer- 
tainly is  not  prudent  to  send  out  large  parties 
of  untried  persons,  sometimes  married  and 
sometimes  single,  with  little  or  no  culture,  lit- 
tle or  no  experience  of  life,  and  with  supreme 
devotion  as  the  one  towering  virtue  which  is 
expected  to  hide  a  multitude  of  shortcomings. 
It  is  not  right  to  send  abroad  men  and  women 
who  manifestly  will  never  be  able  to  acquire 
new  languages  or  do  any  part  of  the  practical 
work  of  a  missionary.  It  is  not  right  to  send 
out  young  people  who  have  never  lived  b\' 
"  faith  alone  "  to  found  so-called  "  faith  mis- 
sions." There  is  no  real  devotion  whatever 
in  deliberate  folly;  and  some  missionar}'  expe- 


192  WAYSIDE   VIEWS. 

ditions  have  been  so  unwisely  planned  as  to 
make  it  seem  that  wisdom  had  been  thrown 
to  the  winds  and  devotion  made  a  synonym 
for  rashness  or  blind  presumption.  The  mis- 
sion field  is  the  last  place  in  the  world  in  which 
such  a  spirit  ought  to  be  displayed,  and  those 
on  whom  responsibility  rests  should  carefully 
avoid  even  the  appearance  of  a  disregard  of 
ordinary  prudence. 

SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 

While  speaking  of  missionary  devotion,  I 
wish  to  add  a  word  concerning  what,  perhaps, 
may  be  regarded  as  only  one  phase  of  the  sub- 
ject. I  mean  the  importance  of  maintaining  a 
deeply  spiritual  life.  In  a  successful  mission- 
ary field  foreign  workers  soon  discover  that 
they  do  not  by  any  means  possess  a  monopoly 
of  Christian  devotion  or  of  spiritual  life,  but  at 
the  same  time  they  will  sooner  or  later  find 
that  the  standard  of  holy  living  among  their 
converts  depends  very  much  upon  their  own 
example.  I  never  feel  any  serious  misgivings 
concerning  the  ultimate  standard  of  living 
which  will  be  adopted  by  our  converts  so  long- 
as  at  one  or  more  points  we  arc  successful  in 
maintaining  a  standard  of  spiritual  life  which 
approaches  more  or  less  nearly  that  set  up  in 
the    New  Testament.     A  very  few  Christians 


WAYSIDE   VIEWS.  1 93 

of  deep  piet}',  and  whose  devotion  is  not  mere!}' 
formal,  but  spontaneous  and  real,  never  fail 
powerfully  to  affect  the  others  with  whom  they 
are  associated  ;  and,  as  might  be  expected,  this 
becomes  more  marked  in  the  case  of  those 
who  naturally  look  up  to  them  as  their  leaders. 
Hence  all  foreign  missionaries  should  be  men 
and  women  who  know  what  it  is  to  experience 
in  their  own  hearts  and  lives  the  power  of  the 
truths  which  they  teach.  They  should  never 
go  abroad  with  unsettled  doubts  or  with  a 
Christianity  which  is  in  all  its  main  features 
purely  intellectual.  Of  all  living  men  the  mis- 
sionary, who  stands  in  the  midst  of  people 
who  do  not  even  bear  the  Christian  name,  needs 
to  be  able  to  say,  "I  know" — needs  to 
know  whom  he  believes  and  what  he  believes. 
It  is  not  only  discouraging,  but  positive!}' 
p;'.iiiful  to  hear  a  man  or  woman  who  has  left 
home  and  friends  and  country,  and  gone  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth  as  a  messenger  of  Christ, 
calmly  express  doubt  concerning  the  possi- 
bility of  recognizing  a  spiritual  work  in  the 
heart.  Those  who  go  abroad  as  messengers 
of  the  risen  Son  of  God  should  be  able  to  tes- 
tify, not  merely  that  they  believe  in  him,  but 
that  they  know  him,  that  they  are  his  messen- 
gers, and  that  they  know  how  to  lead  those  to 
him  who  need  his  help. 


194  WAYSIDE   VIEWS. 

It  has  often  been  impressed  upon  me  that 
there  is  a  painful  want  of  intelHgent  consecra- 
tion on  the  part  of  those  who  support  mission- 
ary work  at  home.  It  is  easy  enough  to  find 
persons  who  have  a  clear  enough  conception 
of  what  consecration  should  mean  to  the  mis- 
sionary in  the  foreign  field,  but  it  is  a  rare 
thing  indeed  to  meet  with  one  who  has  ever 
attempted  to  apply  the  same  rule  to  himself 
which  he  thinks  should  in  every  case  be  ap- 
plied to  his  brother  who  goes  abroad.  Conse- 
cration is  a  term  which  means,  or  should  mean, 
the  same  thing  when  applied  to  all  human  be- 
ings. It  may  lead  to  a  given  course  of  conduct 
in  the  case  of  one  and  to  a  very  different  course 
in  the  case  of  another  ;  but  the  motive  power  in 
each  case  should  be  the  same.  If  I  as  a  foreign 
missionary  am  expected  to  give  up  all  things 
for  the  interests  of  the  work,  to  count  home 
and  treasure  and  ease  and  personal  comfort  as 
nothing  when  the  interests  of  the  work  are  at 
stake,  my  brother  in  the  United  States  who 
unhesitatingly  assigns  this  standard  of  duty  to 
me  should  be  governed  by  a  spirit  precisely 
similar.  He  may  not  be  called  upon  to  give 
up  the  things  that  I  may  be  required  to  for- 
sake, but  his  devotion  should  be  as  complete, 
and  whatever  he  is  required  to  do  should  be 
done  as  cheerfully  and  with  as  little  question 


WAYSIDE   VIEWS.  1 95 

as  if  l)e  were  a  missionary  in  China  or  Africa. 
It  is  utterly  discouraging,  however,  and  pain- 
fully disheartening  to  find  tliat  the  very  idea 
of  such  a  missionary  devotion  in  the  home  land 
is  scarcely  recognized.  Here  and  tliere  a  good 
man  can  be  found  who  has  consecrated  all  that 
he  has  and  all  that  he  expects  to  receive  to  this 
sacred  cause.  Butsuch  cases  are  very  rare  indeed. 
So  far  from  it,  devotion  to  the  missionary  cause 
is  usually  accepted  as  meaning  at  the  utmost  a 
willingness  to  give  once  a  year  a  liberal  sum  in 
aid  of  the  work.  It  is  an  almost  unheard-of  thing 
for  a  rich  man  to  give  son  or  daughter,  much 
less  to  give  himself,  for  the  work  for  which  our 
Saviour  gave  life  and  all  things  else.  Our 
best  people  are  strangely  prone  to  forget  that 
the  missionary  cause  represents  the  salvation 
of  the  human  race.  It  cannot  possibly  mean 
less  than  this,  and  v.hen  we  use  the  term  de- 
votion in  connection  with  it  we  should  always 
remember  that  the  only  devotion  that  can  pos- 
sibly enable  the  disciples  of  Christ  to  accom- 
plish their  gigantic  task  is  one  which  bears 
the  impress  of  the  Master  himself — a  devotion, 
in  other  words,  which  embraces  life,  with  all 
that  the  term  implies. 

I  need  hardly  say  that  even  among  our  best 
Christians  in  these  United  States  such  devo- 
tion has  not  yet  been  realized  to  any  apprecia- 


196  WAYSIDE   VIEWS. 

Lie  extent.  Great  Churches  may  be  found 
the  measure  of  whose  practical  devotion  is 
represented  by  an  average  gift  of  from  fifty 
cents  to  a  dollar  a  year  for  each  believing 
Christian.  There  is  no  sacrifice  in  connection 
with  it,  no  earnest  striving  in  either  prayer  or 
labor,  in  aid  of  the  cause.  Money  is  poured 
out  like  water  by  thousands  of  prosperous 
Christians  to  build  palaces  in  which  to  live,  to 
maintain  a  style  \\hich  pertains  strictly  to  a 
world  that  is  perishing,  while  nations  are  sit- 
ting in  darkness,  while  millions  are  living  in 
utter  want  and  dying  without  a  ray  of  hope 
upon  their  future.  There  is  something  about 
this  state  of  things  which  is  more  than  surpris- 
ing ;  it  is  positively  alarming ;  and  all  earnest 
Christians  should  awaken  to  the  realization  of 
the  fact  that  Christianity  itself  is  made  a  huge 
inconsistency  before  the  world  while  such  a 
state  of  things  is  permitted  to  continue. 

CONFIDENCE   NEEDED. 

I  have  noted,  too,  from  time  to  time,  as  I 
have  been  going  up  and  down  among  the  home 
churches,  that  there  is  a  lamentable  want  of 
confidence  in  this  enterprise  as  a  special  work 
given  by  God  to  all  his  people.  This  form  of 
unbelief  is  not  often  formulated  in  words,  and 
yet  it  manifests    itself  constantly  in  indirect 


\YAYSIDE    VIEWS.  IQ/ 

forms.  In  a  general  way  Christians  are  willing 
enough  to  concede  that  in  the  beginning  a 
commission  was  given  to  the  early  Christians 
to  evangelize  all  nations,  but  it  is  not  accepted 
generally  as  a  fact  that  God,  in  these  latter 
days,  is  by  his  Holy  Spirit  summoning  his  peo- 
ple anew  to  take  up  a  long-neglected  duty  and 
complete  the  task  which  was  begun  by  the 
immediate  followers  of  our  Saviour.  This  want 
of  confidence  in  the  work  very  naturally  pro- 
duces something  like  a  sjjiritual  paralysis,  which 
hinders  all  earnest  efforts  for  a  grand  advance 
along  all  the  lines  of  missionary  endeavor 
throughout  the  world.  One  of  the  first  things 
to  be  done  by  the  promoters  of  this  enterprise 
is  to  insist  more  and  more  strenuously  that  this 
great  question  should  be  settled  once  for  all. 
Let  the  leaders  of  religious  thought  among  us 
take  it  up ;  let  all  those  in  high  ecclesiastical 
positions  give  it  their  immediate  attention  ; 
and  especially  let  all  leaders  of  the  missionar}' 
enterprise  unshrinkingly  press  it  upon  the  at- 
tention of  the  people  that  Jesus  Christ,  who 
still  lives  and  walks  in  the  midst  of  the  churches 
as  of  old,  is  summoning  everyone  who  bears 
his  name  to  an  immediate  prosecution  of  this 
gigantic  task.  People  generally  cannot  be  ex- 
pected to  believe  with  any  measure  of  confi- 
dence until  a  crreat   truth  is  set  before   them 


198  WAYSIDE   VIEWS. 

which  challeiif^^es  their  faith.  Their  want  of 
confidence  in  the  work  is  largely  owing  to  the 
fact  that  a  missionary  gospel  has  not  been 
preached  to  them.  The  heart  of  any  sincere 
Christian  is  prepared  to  believe,  and  finds  no 
pleasure  in  withholding  confidence  from  any- 
thing that  is  good ;  but  God's  rule  under  the 
gospel  dispensation  is  that  all  great  truths 
shall  be  set  before  the  heart  and  mind  of  the 
believer,  in  order  that  an  intelligent  faith  may 
find  an  opportunity  for  its  exercise.  I  do  not, 
therefore,  feel  like  upbraiding  our  Christian  peo- 
ple for  want  of  confidence  in  this  call,  but 
would  rather  chide  their  leaders  for  not  put- 
ting the  call  distinctly  before  the  Church.  Our 
preachers  are  neglecting  their  duty,  our  great 
leaders  have  failed  to  realize  their  responsi- 
bility, and  those  to  whom  we  naturally  look  as 
our  missionary  leaders  have  failed  to  impress  it 
upon  the  public  that  Christ  himself  is  speaking, 
is  speaking  now,  and  is  calling  in  a  voice  which 
he  would  have  all  his  people  upon  the  globe 
recognize  and  obey,  summoning  them  to  one 
united,  stupendous  effort  to  bring  all  the  na- 
tions into  his  fold. 

THE  PRESENT   SOCIAL  CRISIS. 

A  plausible  objection  to  foreign  mission  work 
at  this  particular  time  is  sometimes   made  by 


Wayside  views.  199 

tliose  ^^'ho  see  aiul  feel  deeply  the  crisis  which 
is  upon  the  Christian  Church  in  the  United 
States,  and,  indeed,  in  all  Christian  countries, 
in  connection  with  the  extraordinary  develop- 
ment of  city  life.  It  is  a  phenomenon  hereto- 
fore unknown  in  the  world  that  in  all  parts  of 
Christendom,  and  even  to  some  extent  in  India, 
millions  of  people  are  flocking  out  of  the  coun- 
try into  the  great  cities.  With  this  concentra- 
tion of  population  in  the  great  cities  new  con- 
ditions have  arisen,  and  new  questions  have 
been  started,  and  symptoms  of  new  movements 
are  appearing,  some  of  which  are  causing  grave 
alarm  in  the  minds  of  our  most  thoughtful 
people.  On  the  surface  it  looks  as  if  our  Chris- 
tian Churches  were  not  able  and  were  not  go- 
ing to  be  able  to  grapple  with  the  extraordi- 
nary issues  which  have  thus  unexpectedly  been 
thrust  upon  them.  Multitudes  of  people  are 
found  who  cannot  speak  our  language,  and  in 
the  midst  of  the  polj'glot  tongues  of  the  peo- 
ple the  old-time  preacher  of  the  Gospel  is  made 
to  feel  a  sense  of  weakness  to  which  he  was 
formerly  wholly  unaccustomed.  In  one  well- 
known  mission  in  New  York  not  less  than  nine 
nationalities  were  found  represented  a  week  or 
two  ago.  Many  of  these  people  could  under- 
stand very  little  English  ;  and  in  the  midst  of 
such  a  community  it  must  have  seemed  to  the 


200  WAYSIDE   VIEWS. 

workers  as  if  the  most  urgent  phase  of  mission- 
ary work  to  be  found  on  the  face  of  the  globe 
was  that  which  met  them  in  the  midst  of  that 
great  city. 

We  can  hardly  conceal  from  ourselves  the 
fact  that  some  grave  dangers  seem  to  threaten 
our  civilization.  The  clamor  of  the  multitude 
of  the  unemployed  is  becoming  louder  every 
year.  Unwise  and  even  reckless  attempts  may 
be  made  at  any  time  to  revolutionize  society  as 
it  now  exists.  I  have  no  time  to  discuss  the 
ultimate  bearings  of  such  questions,  but  merely 
call  your  attention  to  them  as  powerfully  af- 
fecting the  views  of  some  of  our  best  people 
concerning  the  missionary  work.  "  Whatever 
may  have  been  true  in  the  past,"  they  say,  "  the 
situation  has  become  so  changed  that  we  can 
no  longer  see  the  urgency  of  work  in  foreign 
lands,  and  must  give  our  time  and  our  treasure 
to  this  work  which  God  has  placed  at  our 
doors."  I  can  see  clearly  and  feel  deeply  the 
force  of  such  remarks,  and  perhaps  it  will  sur- 
prise you  if  I  say  that  as  a  foreign  missionary  I 
see  these  things  more  clearly  and  feel  them 
more  deeply  than  those  who,  living  in  our 
great  cities,  confront  these  grave  questions  in 
America.  I  do  not  see,  however,  the  force  of 
the  objection,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  feel 
deeply  that  the  best  way  to  meet  tb.e  problem 


WAYSIDE    VIEWS.  20I 

which  confronts  you  here  is  to  accept  the  prior 
commission  which  was  given  at  the  beginning  of 
our  era,  and  which  included  all  these  questions 
which  are  causing  alarm  among  you  here  in 
America. 

When  tempted  to  yield  to  discouragement 
and  even  despair  in  the  face  of  the  grave  diffi- 
culties to  which  I  allude,  you  should  always 
remember  that  God  has  never  yet  been  taken 
by  surprise.  All  the  terms  of  this  great  prob- 
lem have  been  seen  from  the  beginning,  and 
when  our  Saviour  ascended  on  high  and  poured 
out  his  Spirit  at  Pentecost  he  included  in  the 
permanent  gift  of  the  Spirit  a  full  provision 
for  the  emergency  which  is  upon  you  at  this 
present  hour.  There  is  nothing  in  the  present 
situation  that  need  alarm  anyone,  but  there  are 
many  things  which  undoubtedly  call  for  close 
investigation,  for  earnest  prayer,  for  increased 
devotion,  for  greater  courage,  and  for  more 
determined  effort  to  meet  each  emergency  as 
it  arises.  Our  friends  in  the  great  cities  should 
also  remember  that  no  policy  could  prove 
more  fatal  at  the  present  crisis  than  to  issue  a 
summons  calling  in  men  from  the  outposts, 
closing  up  our  widely  extended  lines,  and  as- 
suming what  would  practically  be  a  defensive 
attitude  in  the  face  of  the  enemy.  If  we  were 
to  postpone  our  foreign  missionary  work  until 


202  WAYSIDE   VIEWS. 

the  emergency  shall  have  been  met  at  home,  it 
would  be  tantamount  to  the  case  of  a  great 
army  in  the  country  of  an  enemy  suddenly 
taking  refuge  in  a  few  great  cities,  fortifying 
their  positions,  and  ordering  a  cessation  of  ag- 
gressive warfare  at  every  point  until  the  safety 
of  the  cities  had  been  secured. 

You  cannot  afford  here  in  America  to  as- 
sume a  defensive  position.  In  New  York, 
Chicago,  or  any  other  great  city  you  are  on  the 
winning  side,  and  must  maintain  an  offensive 
attitude.  Christianity  was  never  intended  to 
assume  a  defensive  attitude ;  her  normal  atti- 
tude is  that  of  the  offensive,  and  you  would 
simply  paralyze  our  militant  forces  in  the 
United  States  if  you  gave  notice  to  the  world 
that  you  were  no  longer  able  to  maintain  your 
ordinary  operations  among  the  nations. 

You  should  also  remember  that  in  Christian 
service  obedience  to  God  is  a  law  not  only 
of  spiritual  life,  but  a  condition  of  spiritual 
strength.  The  first  great  question  to  be  set- 
tled is,  What  has  God  commanded  us  in  refer- 
ence to  this  duty  ?  Is  it  true  that  through  the 
centuries  that  great  command  has  been  con- 
stantly held  up  before  our  eyes,  as  clearly  as 
if  written  in  letters  of  fire  across  the  sky,  to 
make  Christ  known  to  all  the  nations  of  the 
world  ?     If  we  admit  that  this  is  true,  then  it 


WAYSIDE   VIEWS.  203 

is  gross  and  glaring  disobedience  for  us  even 
to  propose  to  disobey  the  command.  Diso- 
bedience means  weakness.  I  look  upon  the 
proposal  to  give  a  subordinate  part  to  the  for- 
eign missionary  enterprise  for  a  generation  or 
two  with  undisguised  alarm.  It  is  tantamount 
to  a  deliberate  proposal  to  resign  ourselves  to 
a  state  of  spiritual  paralysis.  It  means  defeat, 
disaster,  and  humiliation.  The  idea  is,  no 
doubt,  that  there  will  be  more  hope  for  our 
great  cities  if  everything  is  concentrated  here; 
but  this  hope  will  prove  utterly  delusive.  The 
only  way  of  safety  is  God's  way;  and  God  has 
indicated  his  way  so  clearly  that  everyone  who 
runs  may  read. 

INIy  friends  in  this  country  in  talking  with 
me  concerning  the  aspect  of  society  at  the 
present  time,  nearl)'  always  take  it  for  granted 
that  a  missionary  returned  from  the  other  side 
of  the  globe  must  be  wholly  unacquainted  with 
the  new  condition  of  things  in  the  social  life 
of  the  United  States.  It  never  seems  to  occur 
to  them  that  the  same  troubles  which  are  be- 
ginning to  appear  so  portentous  in  the  United 
States,  and  especially  in  the  great  cities,  are 
found  in  active  existence  in  India,  and  even  in 
a  more  accentuated  form  than  has  yet  been 
reached  in  America.  In  some  respects  the 
condition  of  the  masses  in  India  is  more  alarm- 


204  WAYSIDE   VIEWS. 

ing  than  anything  yet  seen  in  America.  In 
deed,  the  same  questions  which  are  attracting 
so  much  attention  here  have  long  been  felt  in 
every  Asiatic  country.  The  poverty  of  the 
masses  in  India  and  China  is  so  extreme  that 
the  comparative  poverty  in  London  and  New 
York  can  luirdly  be  mentioned  in  the  same 
connection,  except  by  way  of  contrast.  Re- 
turning from  my  mission  field  a  year  ago,  my 
attention  was  drawn  to  an  assembly  of  two  or 
three  thousand  workmen  in  the  city  of  Cleve- 
land, and  I  felt  not  only  concerned  but  almost 
distressed  when  I  looked  at  them  and  remem- 
bered that  for  the  first  time  in  my  life  I  had 
seen  a  large  number  of  unemployed  men  in  an 
American  city  who  v/ere  out  of  money  and 
apparently  out  of  work  and  reduced  to  the 
verge  of  positive  want.  My  mind  was  relieved, 
however,  when  I  learned  on  inquiry  that  these 
men  and  their  families  were  not  starving,  but 
that  they  were  unwilling  to  work  for  so  little 
as  a  dollar  a  day !  I  remembered  that  in  the 
country  which  I  had  just  left  it  was  perfectly 
feasible  to  engage  a  thousand  men  to  work  as 
ordinary  laborers  for  a  salary  of  two  dollars  a 
month.  The  mere  statement  of  this  fact  will 
suffice  to  show  you  how  much  more  real  in- 
dustrial and  social  troubles  are  in  India  than 
in  England  or  the  United  States. 


WAYSIDE   VIEWS.  205 

But  it  is  not  poverty  alone  that  we  have  to 
contend  with  in  the  great  Asiatic  countries  ; 
the  people  are  helpless,  and,  indeed,  it  is  to 
this  fact  that  our  only  security  is  due.  They 
are  not  capable  of  putting  forth  such  acts  of 
violence  as  the  unemployed  classes  are  found 
attempting  to  do  in  Western  regions.  I  have 
seen  not  only  poverty  but  famine  and  death 
stalking  abroad  through  the  land.  I  have 
lived  in  the  midst  of  war  and  pestilence  and 
famine  ;  but  if  given  my  choice  I  would  at  any 
time  accept  both  war  and  pestilence  in  prefer- 
ence to  the  awful  scourge  which  famine,  even 
in  its  lightest  phases,  never  fails  to  inflict.  At 
this  very  time  many  of  our  statesmen  in  India 
are  perplexed  with  the  question  of  redundancy 
of  population.  I  could  take  you,  if  there, 
through  districts  of  country  where  a  thousand 
people  live  upon  every  square  mile  of  land  ; 
and  this  enormous  population  is  not  reckoned 
by  counting  in  large  cities  with  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  inhabitants,  but  consists  simply 
of  the  rural  population  living  in  small  mud- 
walled  villages. 

As  famines  are  more  and  more  prevented 
by  the  distribution  of  grain  along  the  lines  of 
railways  and  canals,  and  as  sanitary  measures 
of  various  kinds  are  introduced  among  the 
people,  the  ratio  of  increase  is  steadily  rising, 
U 


206  WAYSIDE   VIEWS. 

and  statesmen  begin  to  ask  what  the  end  will 
be.  How  are  these  vast  multitudes  who  are 
almost  starving  now  to  be  fed  in  the  next 
generation  ?  What  will  India  do  when  her 
population  rises,  as  it  bids  fair  to  rise,  to  five 
hundred  million  ?  These  questions  confront 
the  missionary,  and  appeal  to  him  for  solution 
more  imperatively  than  to  any  other  person. 
You  must  not  for  a  moment  allow  yourselves 
to  think  that  we  have  no  troubles  abroad,  no 
problems  to  solve,  no  difficult  questions  to  an- 
swer, and  no  dangers  threatening  both  the 
stability  of  society  and  the  success  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

So  far  from  feeling  alarm  in  view  of  these 
apparently  dangerous  issues  I  look  upon  them 
with  serene  confidence  in  God,  and  without  a 
shadow  of  misgiving  as  to  the  ultimate  result 
of  present  agitations.  If  Christianity  cannot 
deal  successfully  with  such  social  disturbances 
as  these  it  will  stand  a  confessed  failure  before 
the  world.  It  was  just  for  the  settlement  of  such 
questions  that  Christ  came  to  earth.  We 
hardly  know  what  we  mean  when  we  say  he 
came  to  save  men,  and  tacitly  attach  so  narrow 
an  interpretation  to  the  word  "save"  as  to 
limit  its  meaning  and  limit  the  possibilities 
which  otherwise  would  be  within  easy  grasp 
of  his   disciples  of  the   present  generation.     I 


WAYSIDE    VIEWS.  20/ 

have  believed  for  some  years  that  it  will  be 
given  to  the  Christian  missionaries  of  the 
world  to  solve  some  of  the  most  portentous 
social  questions  of  the  present  day.  So  far 
from  waiting  till  you  settle  all  these  issues  in 
Europe  and  America  we  propose  to  move  on 
steadily,  and  with  God's  help  to  contribute  our 
share  toward  the  introduction  of  a  basis  of  so- 
ciety which  will  be  adapted  to  the  condition 
of  men  and  women  in  all  the  nations,  and  which 
will  make  it  possible  for  the  human  race  to  live 
in  peace,  quietness,  and  happiness  throughout 
the  whole  length  and  breadth  of  our  wide 
earth. 

LIVING  LINKS. 
I  have  been  deeply  impressed  by  an  observa- 
tion made  in  many  parts  of  the  country  of  the 
interest  which  missionary  donors  feel  in  the 
destination  of  the  money  which  they  give  for 
the  work.  It  is  often  said  that  Christians  give 
from  principle,  and  should  have  such  confi- 
dence in  those  who  are  responsible  for  the 
work  that  they  will  be  willing  to  forego  the 
desire  for  further  information  concerning  the 
use  to  which  their  gifts  are  applied,  and  deny 
themselves  the  gratification  of  what  seems  to 
be  little  more  than  a  natural  curiosity  on  the 
subject.  It  is  very  easy  to  present  such  a  viev/ 
and  to  defend  it ;  but  in  this,  as  in  many  other 


208  WAYSIDE   VIEWS. 

cases,  we  are  obliged  to  accept  facts  as  we  find 
them.  It  is  just  possible  that  all  Christians 
should  be  so  disinterested  as  to  feel  no  personal 
concern  in  a  matter  of  this  kind  ;  but,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  they  are  not ;  and  for  one  I 
strongly  incline  to  the  belief  that  it  is  some- 
thing better  than  mere  curiosity  which  creates 
a  desire  on  the  part  of  so  many  to  follow  their 
offerings  with  their  prayers,  and  watch  care- 
fully the  development  of  the  work  which  they 
set  on  foot  in  distant  lands.  Undoubtedly,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  found  much  more  easy  to 
induce  ordinary  persons  to  give  for  a  specific 
object  than  simply  to  give  in  response  to  a 
general  appeal.  We  are  all  so  constituted  that 
our  sympathies  can  only  be  drawn  out  by 
examples  which  we  can  comprehend,  and  which 
are  so  brought  before  the  mind  that  we  can 
appreciate  the  exact  bearings  of  each  case. 
More  than  that,  it  is  perfectly  reasonable  that 
a  benevolent  person  should  have  a  desire  to 
found  some  special  work  and  watch  its  de- 
velopment just  as  he  would  plant  a  tree  and 
watch  over  its  growth  from  year  to  year. 
Hence,  for  some  years  past  I  have  not  hesi- 
tated to  make  special  appeals,  both  to  the 
public  and  to  individuals,  inviting  them  to 
support  special  objects.  One  becomes  respon- 
sible for  the  maintenance  of  a  school,  another 


WAYSIDE  VIEWS.  209 

for  the  educalioii  of  a  given  number  of  bo}-s 
and  girls,  a  third  for  the  education  of  one  or 
more  theological  students,  a  fourth  for  the 
support  of  one  or  more  preachers,  a  fifth  for 
the  erection  of  a  chapel  or  other  building, 
while  in  rare  instances  persons  assume  greater 
responsibilities  and  become  permanent  sup- 
porters of  a  missionary  family. 

This  policy  has  been  happily  named,  by  Dr. 
Pierson,  I  think,  "  Living  Links."  It  is  of  the 
utmost  importance  that  the  supporters  of  mis- 
sions should  be  linked  to  the  work  abroad,  and 
no  bond  will  be  found  so  enduring  as  that 
which  unites  a  living  donor  to  the  living  object 
of  his  beneficence,  whose  home  is  in  some  dis- 
tant land.  So  very  few  can  go  there  that  it 
becomes  the  more  desirable  that  all  who  can 
possibly  do  so  should  strive  to  support  substi- 
tutes, so  that  the  Christian  in  America,  who 
would  gladly  spend  his  days  in  the  foreign 
field  if  it  were  within  the  range  of  possibility, 
is  enabled  to  comfort  his  heart  with  the 
thought  that  although  not  there  in  person  he 
is  represented  by  one  who  can  speak  the  lan- 
guage more  fluently,  who  knows  the  people 
more  perfectly,  and  who  can  not  only  worthily 
represent  him,  but  perhaps  accomplish  more 
than  he  could  by  going  there  in  person. 
After  giving  some  personal  attention  to  this 


2IO  WAYSIDE   VIEWS. 

subject  I  have  become  persuaded  that  very 
e^reat  possibilities  are  opened  up  by  the  adop- 
tion of  such  a  pohcy.  All  our  leading  churches 
should  make  haste  to  embrace  the  privilege  of 
being  represented  abroad,  not  by  some  obscure 
native  preacher  who  lives  on  the  salary  of  four 
or  five  dollars  a  month,  but  by  a  missionary 
family  sent  out  from  the  United  States.  In 
the  instances  in  which  this  has  been  done  the 
result  has  been  eminently  satisfactory.  Within 
the  bounds  of  the  mission  field  we  have  now 
a  number  of  American  missionaries  who  are 
supported  by  single  congregations  in  this 
country;  and  in  every  case  the  church  which 
supports  a  missionary,  so  far  from  lessening  its 
contributions  in  consequence,  has  actually  in- 
creased them. 

I  believe  unhesitatingly  in  the  policy,  and  if 
it  were  in  my  power  I  should  rejoice  to  see  a 
hundred  of  our  churches,  or  perhaps  in  some 
cases  two  or  three  churches  combined,  assum- 
ing the  support  of  men  and  women  abroad, 
with  whom  they  can  be  kept  in  constant  cor- 
respondence, and  through  whom  they  may  be 
able  to  get  stores  of  information  which  they 
could  never  find  in  any  other  way.  The  gen- 
eral adoption  of  such  a  policy  would  give  a 
little  trouble,  it  is  true.  It  would  add  to  the 
difficulties  of  our  accountants,  and  add  to  the 


WAYSIDE  VIEWS.  211 

labors  of  those  who  would  be  intrusted  with 
the  correspondence  necessary  for  the  success- 
ful working  of  such  a  plan.  But  what  is  labor 
for  if  it  cannot  be  applied  to  a  noble  purpose 
such  as  this?  It  would  be  economy,  from  a 
financial  point  of  view,  and  it  would  be  a  bless- 
ing to  those  who  are  responsible  for  the  work 
both  at  home  and  abroad. 

THE   INSTINCT   OF   VICTORY. 

If  time  would  only  permit  me  I  would 
mention  one  other  impression  which  has  been 
made  upon  me  in  my  coming  and  going,  both 
in  India  and  the  United  States.  I  refer  to  the 
despondent  tone  in  which  many  representa- 
tives of  the  cause  allow  themselves  to  speak 
of  our  missionary  work  and  its  prospects. 
Not  long  ago  I  met  a  very  intelligent  gentle- 
man on  an  ocean  steamer,  who  expressed  some 
surprise  to  me  at  the  cheerful  tone  which  I 
had  adopted  in  a  brief  address  given  to  the 
passengers  on  missionary  work  in  India.  He 
said  that  he  was  greatly  gratified  to  learn  that 
there  were  missionaries  abroad  who  were  not 
only  cheerful  and  hopeful,  but  positively 
buoyant  and  sanguine  while  prosecuting  a 
work  of  so  great  difficulties.  He  went  on  to 
say  that  in  many  places  he  had  attended  mis- 
sionary meetings    and   had  almost   uniformly 


2  12  WAYSIDE   VIEWS. 

found  them  extremely  gloomy  occasions.  To 
borrow  his  own  expressiv^e  phrase,  "  The  very 
atmosphere  of  the  place  seemed  blue  as 
indigo."  Instead  of  a  missionary  meeting 
the  people  seemed  to  him  to  have  come  to- 
gether to  talk  of  the  wickedness  of  the  world, 
the  badness  of  human  nature,  the  certainty 
that  things  generally  were  going  to  the  bad, 
and  constantly  increasing  evidence  of  the 
world's  depravity,  and,  without  formulating 
their  feeling  in  so  many  words,  practically  im- 
pressing upon  those  present  the  idea  that  the 
great  missionary  task  of  the  age  was  hopeless, 
so  far  as  its  ultimate  success  was  concerned. 

I  had  no  difficulty  in  understanding  what 
this  gentleman  meant,  although  he  expressed 
lumself  perhaps  in  more  vigorous  language 
than  I  should  have  liked  to  employ.  Un- 
doubtedly there  is  such  a  spirit  abroad  in 
the  Christian  world.  I  do  not  care  to  inquire 
concerning  its  origin,  but  we  are  confronted  by 
the  melancholy  fact  that  too  many  of  the 
friends  of  missions  have  ceased  to  believe  in 
victory.  I  have  read  the  New  Testament  with 
some  care  these  many  years,  I  have  searched 
through  and  through  its  pages  for  light  to 
guide  me  in  the  difficult  work  in  which  I  am 
personally  engaged,  but  up  to  the  present 
time  I  have  utterly  failed  to  find  any  trace  of 


WAYSIDE    VIEWS.  213 

the  gospel  of  despair.  I  have  searched  in  vahi 
for  any  indication  that  there  is  no  hope  of  vic- 
tory in  the  work  which  God  has  given  me.  On 
the  other  hand,  I  cannot  but  beheve  that  the 
Saviour,  whose  I  am  and  whom  I  serve,  is  for- 
ever a  victor.  Satan's  head  has  long  ages  ago 
been  bruised  beneath  his  victorious  feet ;  and 
as  we  are  heirs  to  all  that  belongs  to  him  we 
are  heirs  to  his  victory.  Hence  we  who  are  at 
the  front  have  no  other  thought  than  that  of 
winning  the  battle  in  which  we  are  engaged. 
We  never  expect  to  lower  the  banner  \\hich 
has  been  placed  in  our  hands;  and  as  the 
years  and  ages  pass  along  we  confidentl}' 
expect  the  strongholds  of  sin,  one  after  an- 
other, to  be  beaten  down  and  temples  of  right- 
eousness to  rise  upon  the  right  hand  and  the 
left,  until  at  last  not  only  the  great  empire  in 
which  we  chance  to  live,  but  all  the  kingdoms 
of  this  earth  shall  become  the  kingdoms  of  our 
Lord  and  of  his  Christ.  We  accept  the  task 
which  has  been  given  us  as  one  embracing 
nothing  less  than  this.  If  this  view  is  correct, 
and  if  this  is  the  spirit  in  which  we  ought  to 
work,  the  Church  at  home  should  manifest  the 
same  spirit  and  present  her  gifts  with  a  holy 
enthusiasm  and  unquestioning  faith  in  the 
final  result  which  is  to  be  secured.  I  cannot, 
however,  shut  my  eyes   to  the  fact   that  a  de- 


214  WAYSIDE    VIEWS. 

spoiidency  very  much  like  that  described  by 
my  friend  on  the  steamer  is  pervading  too 
many  of  our  Christian  communities  in  England 
and  the  United  States.  The  missionary  ban- 
ner seems  to  me  to  be  drooping  in  many  places  ; 
the  missionary  songs  seem  to  be  losing  their 
joyous  fervor,  and  the  missionary  prayers 
which  ascend  to  the  throne  of  grace  do  not 
seem  to  be  offered  with  full  confidence  that  the 
thing  asked  for  shall  surely  be  granted. 

The  time  has  come,  and  more  than  come, 
for  a  more  hopeful  proclamation  of  the  great 
missionary  gospel  which  God  has  given  his 
people,  and  which  he  has  set  more  clearly  than 
ever  before  them  during  the  closing  years  of 
this  eventful  century.  Ours  is  a  gospel  of 
hope,  a  gospel  of  life,  a  gospel  of  light,  and  a 
gospel  of  holy  triumph.  Let  us  accept  it  as 
such,  let  us  offer  it  to  the  world  as  such,  and 
let  us  proclaim  it  with  a  confidence  which  shall 
exclude  the  faintest  shadow  of  doubt  from  our 
hearts  and  minds.  If  we  go  to  work  in  this 
spirit,  and  if  we  faithfully  lift  up  a  standard  to  the 
people  which  shall  be  worthy  of  the  best  tradi- 
tions of  the  New  Testament  era,  the  greatest 
works  which  have  been  witnessed  since  the  day 
of  Pentecost  will  appear  on  the  right  and  the 
left  throughout  the  whole  length  and  breadth 
of  the  great  Christendom  of  the  present  day. 


Date  Due 

^^^-^*j|0JlaBinW"*^K> 

1  l^m.-m!:m 

liBMmflK; 

JUN  1  ! 

Tm 

11\H  1 

51990 

1 1 1  K\   <i  r 

JUN  T  n 

\"^  * 

f) 

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